Overview of electric deregulation in NJ

As reported by Save on Energy.com

New Jersey

Electric:

New Jersey opened its electricity industry to competition in 1999. Each of the four electric utilities (PSE&G, Jersey Central Power & Light, Atlantic City Electric and Rockland Electric) now offer customers the chance to save money by shopping for the supply portion of their electric bill.

The utilities sold off their power plants, and now only own the transmission and distribution wires, while also providing “backstop” power to customers who do not shop for electricity. With the move to competition, New Jersey utilities have separated their service into two parts:

• Regulated distribution of power, which is still only provided by the utility, and     • Supply of the electric commodity, which is open to competition.

Customers can choose to receive their electric supply from their utility, or an alternate energy provider.

Customers who do not choose an alternative energy provider are served on each utility’s Basic Generation Service (BGS). The price for Basic Generation Service is determined annually through auctions held by the utilities.

For large customers above 750 kW, called the Commercial and Industrial Energy Pricing or CIEP class, the BGS price is set at hourly prices in the wholesale PJM market. These prices can be extremely volatile, so most large customers choose an alternate (or third-party) energy provider for price stability.

Customers under 750 kW are known as the BGS Fixed Pricing Class, and receive a flat, annual rate from the auction, although it may be seasonally adjusted.

Customers who choose an alternate energy provider still have their power delivered to them by their local utility, and contact their utility for all outage reporting. Customers can choose to receive either a single bill from their utility for their delivery service and energy supply service, or can receive two bills, one from each company.

Our Perspective:

Natural gas prices are near a 10 year low.  Because 30% of electricity is generated with natural gas  we have seen very competitive in this area also.

Deregulation gives the consumer a choice to buy their energy supply on the open market at wholesale prices as oppose to buying energy from the local provider at default prices that are normally higher. If you are not currently buying energy thru a 3rd party provider, it is something you should take the time to look at. Businesses and now residential clients are finding substantial savings by fixing the cost of their electric and natural gas supply cost.

 

To learn more email george@hbsadvantage.com

 

Natural gas prices rise, benchmark oil up slightly

By SANDY SHORE, AP Business Writer–8 hours ago

Battered natural gas prices are getting a bit of a break as cooler spring weather raises expectations that demand may improve.

Natural gas rose 6 cents to finish at $2.186 per 1,000 cubic feet in Friday trading. That’s up nearly 15 percent from April 19 when the price hit the lowest level in more than a decade at $1.907 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The price has plunged this year as a natural gas production boom created a glut of supply and demand dropped during a mild winter.

Now, some in the market are suggesting demand will strengthen, which help boost prices.

Cooler weather moving across the Northeast, parts of the Midwest and the Rockies this weekend could prompt homeowners to turn up the heat, creating more need for natural gas.

In addition, utilities have been substituting cheaper natural gas for coal to generate electricity. As much as six billion cubic feet a day of natural gas has replaced coal-fired power generation this year, said Ron Denhardt, an analyst with Strategic Energy & Economic Research. Consumption on an annual basis is about 66 billion to 67 billion cubic feet a day.

In addition, some energy companies have cut production because low prices can make it unprofitable to drill for some types of natural gas.

Yet, several analysts believe any rally will be short-lived.

With May upon us, any pick-up in demand for heating will be brief. About 70 percent of the nation’s demand for natural gas comes during the winter to heat homes and businesses.

Natural gas inventories continue to build. Analysts say that underground storage could be filled to the brim by fall without additional production cuts or an extremely hot summer that boosts electricity demand for cooling.

“It’s fundamentally a disastrous market,” Denhardt said. “I can’t see any turnaround of any significance before November, December of this year.”

PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn said there has to be an even bigger drop in price to force companies to cut more production. He speculated that the price will test an all-time low of $1.35 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In other energy trading, oil prices rose slightly, as traders shrugged off a report that the economy grew more slowly in the first three months of the year as governments spent less and businesses cut back on investment. But consumers spent at the fastest pace in more than a year. The Commerce Department said Friday that the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the January-March quarter, compared with 3 percent in the final quarter of 2011.

Benchmark oil rose 38 cents to end at $104.93 per barrel in New York. Brent crude fell 9 cents to finish at $119.83 per barrel in London. Heating oil lost 1.37 cents to end at $3.1807 per gallon and gasoline futures rose 2.29 cents to finish at $3.2062 per gallon.

At the pump, gasoline prices were little changed at a national average of $3.826 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service. That’s 8.5 cents less than a month ago and 5.3 cents lower than a year ago.

Copyright ©  2012   The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Your Attention………Please

Residential electric customers

 

 

In…

 

 

 

New Jersey and Pennsylvania….

 

 

 

 

You finally have an opportunity

 

 

 

To lock your electric supply cost

 

 

 

At a fixed price…….

 

 

 

For a

 

 

 

12 month period

 

 

 

 

 

 

This means saving of

 

 

 

Around 15%

 

 

Off your current

 

 

 

Local provider supply cost

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you look at your PSEG residential electric bill

 

 

You will see your…..

 

 

Price to compare

 

 

For electric

 

 

Is around

 

 

 

$.116 cents per kwh

 

 

 

 

Atlantic City Electric customers

 

 

Your bill shows a

 

 

 

Price to compare of around

 

 

 

$.122 cents per kwh

 

 

 

 

We now have a program that will permit

 

 

 

Residential customers in New Jersey

 

 

 

To lock their electric supply cost for

 

 

 

 

 

 

$.0999 cents per kwh

 

 

 

 

For a 12 month period

 

 

 

 

For a typical household

 

 

This provides savings

 

 

 

Of over $300 a year

 

 

 

 

No additional cost

 

 

No transfer fees

 

 

 

No interruption of service

 

 

 

The supply charges will be billed on

 

Your current local provider bill

 

 

 

Best yet…..

 

 

 

Nothing changes…….

 

 

 

Should you have an electrical problem…..

 

 

 

You still will call your local provider

 

To service the account

 

 

 

 

This opportunity is also available for….

 

 

 

All Residential Pennsylvania

 

 

Electric customers

 

 

 

 

(Contact us to find out your rate…….

 

 

 

Your savings are comparable)

 

 

 

 

 

As most of you know…

 

 

 

HBS has been in the deregulated energy business

 

 

Since January 2000

 

 

 

We have been providing

 

 

This service…

 

 

 

For only the commercial market

 

 

 

 

 

 

I get several calls

 

 

Every  week

 

 

From my clients

 

 

Asking……

 

 

 

 

 

Can you help me with my home electric bill……

 

 

 

 

 

Many have faxed or emailed me…….

 

 

 

 

All the special offers they have been receiving

 

 

 

 

Problem was……

 

 

All I found was……

 

 

 

 

Smoke and Mirrors

 

 

 

 

 

They had the sizzle….

 

 

 

 

No contract…..

 

 

 

Month to month……

 

 

 

Low variable rate……..

 

 

They also had……..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minimal to no $avings

 

 

 

Many have complained to me

 

 

 

They actually paid more

 

 

Than the provider price to compare

 

 

 

 

 

For the first time

 

 

 

We have found

 

 

 

A Residential opportunity

 

 

 

 

That will provide….

 

 

 

 

 

True savings….

 

 

 

 

For your…..

 

 

 

Residential Electric Account

 

 

 

 

Should you like to know more…..

 

 

 

About this saving opportunity

 

 

 

For your home

 

 

Email……..

 

 

george@hbsadvantage.com

 

 

Or call our office 856-857-1230

 

 

 

 

$300 savings

 

 

 

 

For me…..

 

 

It was the equivalent

 

 

 

Of getting 1 month

 

 

 

Free electric a year

 

 

Visit our website: www.hutchinsonbusinesssolutions.com   to learn more about opportunities available to provide savings.

 

Giving Hope

For the last 8 years I have shared an affiliation

 

With Hopeworks in Camden

 

 

4 of those years I was on the Board;

 

 

And for 2 years I served as the

 

President of the Board

 

 

 

 

Hopeworks is the vision of Fr Jeff Putthoff

 

 

A Jesuit

 

 

Gotta love the Jesuits

 

 

 

Fr Jeff  has committed himself to making a difference

 

 

In Camden

 

 

 

Thru hard work and patience

 

 

His vision is becoming a reality

 

 

 

Camden is recognized as one of

 

 

America’s poorest cities

 

 

 

There has been constant wrangling

 

Whether it is #1 or #2

 

 

 

It is also is ranked #2

 

 

As one of America’s

 

 

 

Dangerous cities

 

 

 

 

Over 40% of the youth never even graduate

 

 

From High School

 

 

 

Hopeworks vision:

 

 

 

Empowering the youth to identify

 

 

And develop their D.R.E.A.M.S.

 

 

 

(Dynamic, Realizable Efforts to Attain and Maintain Success)

 

 

And own their future.

 

 

 

 

Hopeworks provides the youth an opportunity to

 

 

Stay in school

 

 

Or to

 

 

Get their GED

 

 

 

Learn a skill

 

 

 

Giving them an opportunity to

 

 

 

Go to college

 

 

 

 

Education is the Key

 

 

 

The environment that The Camden youth

 

 

Are exposed to

 

 

Is frightening

 

 

Just within the last month

 

Over 3 people were shot and killed

 

Within a 2 block radius of Hopeworks

 

At 5^th and State St

 

 

 

Drugs are dealt opening

 

 

One youth when asked what he hoped to do

 

When he got older

 

 

Stated that before coming to Hopeworks

 

 

He never really thought about it

 

 

 

For he never expected to live past 17

 

 

 

When he was 10 years old

 

His brother died in his arms

 

A victim of the streets

 

 

By 12 years old he was running drugs

 

And arrested on gun charges

 

 

After he shot at the police

 

 

 

 

Hopeworks is making a difference

 

 

 

While I was on the Board

 

Fr Jeff introduced the

 

 

 

Fun in the Sun Calendar

 

 

Each summer;  Hopework uses

 

The Fun in the Sun Calendar

 

To help fund summer jobs

 

For Camden youth

 

 

 

This summer we are hoping to raise

 

Enough funds to support

 

25 summer jobs at Hopeworks

 

 

 

 

This is where you can help

 

 

 

I have agreed to be a Captain

 

For the Fun in the Sun program

 

 

 

I am looking for you to help me sell

 

60 tickets

 

 

Which will help us to partially fund the

 

 

Hopeworks summer work program

 

 

 

There are many options available

 

 

1 subscription cost $20

 

 

You may also choose to support a youth for 1 week

 

 

That only cost $160

 

 

Each day in June a name will be pulled

 

From those you have bought a subscription

 

 

 

You will have a chance to win a

 

Specific dollar amount assigned to that day

 

 

One lucky subscribe stands to win

 

 $2012

 

 

That could be you

 

 

Click on the link below to get more information about the

 

 

Fun in the Sun Subscription

 

And take a minute to look at the other tabs on the website

 

 

These tabs provide more information

 

About Hopeworks

 

 

Their Vision and Mission statements

 

 

The programs available

 

 

To the Camden youth

 

 

 

Hopeworks is all about

 

 

Giving back……

 

 

Providing Hope…..

 

 

Opening Doors……

 

 

Fulfilling Dreams……

 

 

 

Let’s take time to Pay it Forward

 

 

 

http://www.hopeworks.org/fun-in-the-sun/

 

 

 

It is my hope that you will help us

 

 

Give 25 youth in Camden

 

 

A job at Hopeworks

 

 

This summer

 

 

 

Note: Should you choose to buy a subscription

 

There is a space that ask for the captain name

 

Please enter my name

Thanks

 

And God Bless You

 

 

We are now on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Hutchinson-Business-Solutions/160324787348229

 

Visit our website: www.hutchinsonbusinesssolutions.com

Typical Hospital Wastes Up To $3.8 Million A Year On Readmissions: Study

The Huffington Post | By Jeffrey Young

 

Having to return to the hospital for another round of treatments for the same medical condition isn’t just emotionally draining, potentially dangerous and tough on a patient’s wallet, it also costs hospitals a ton of money, according to a report issued today.

A typical hospital with 200 to 300 beds wastes up to $3.8 million a year, or 9.6 percent of its total budget, on readmissions of patients who shouldn’t have had to come back, says Premier, a health care company that advises hospitals on improving efficiency and safety. The company analyzed the records of 5.8 million incidents in which a patient went back to a hospital to be re-treated and found they added $8.7 billion a year, or 15.7 percent, to the cost of caring for those people.

Cutting back on these readmissions would  be good news for patients. Even if the hospital has to eat the costs of additional treatments, patients are still subject to the risks of the procedures they undergo and the normal danger of contracting an infection while in the hospital. Patients being treated for heart attacks, respiratory problems like pneumonia and major joint problems are the most likely to wind up back in the hospital, according to Premier.

Wasteful spending in the U.S. health care system has been estimated to be as high as $850 billion each year, according to a 2009 Thomson Reuters report. Overall health care spending rose by a factor of 10 between 1980 and 2010, when it reached $2.6 trillion.

Hospitals are ground zero for health care cost-containment efforts because they are the biggest recipients of America’s health care spending, having taken in $814 billion in 2010, according to a federal government report. Rising costs and shrinking payments from government programs like Medicare and Medicaid and from private insurance companies have hospitals looking everywhere for ways to streamline their operations.

The health care reform law enacted two years ago expands on efforts begun three years ago to link how much Medicare pays hospitals to how well they reduce medical errors, readmissions, and other inefficiencies. Starting next year, hospitals will see their Medicare payments docked by 1 percent if they don’t cut back on these readmissions. The penalty increases to 3 percent in 2015.

Premier’s message to hospitals feeling squeezed: The money you need to save is already in the system. The company has identified 15 steps hospitals can take to improve the care they provide while also saving money, such as making sure patients are treated right the first time and don’t need to be “readmitted” for more care. By analyzing information culled from its hospital partners, Premier recommends other targets for savings, such as performing fewer blood transfusions and limiting costly tests.

Major physician groups also recently rolled out an initiative to reduce unnecessary medical tests. Combined with efforts such as those promoted by Premier, these ventures underscore how private sector health care entities are accelerating cost-containment programs with a push by the health care reform law.

 

What Makes Up the Cost of a Gallon of Gas?

By Chris Persaud | Bankrate.com – Fri, Mar 23, 2012 3:01 AM EDT

 

$4 gas prices got your attention? If the cost of gasoline is already back at that lofty level where you are, or is simply headed in that direction, you’re probably asking where all the gas money you’re shelling out at the pump is going.

View infographic

There are a couple of ways of answering that.
Industry shows how gas price breaks down

The American Petroleum Institute, or API, has a general breakdown for you. According to the trade group’s February estimates, most of what you pay for gasoline — 71 percent — goes to refineries, to buy oil.

API says it takes one gallon of oil to make a gallon of gasoline. The price of oil is determined in commodities markets, where companies and traders buy and sell the petroleum for purposes that can include refining it into gasoline or holding it as an investment. The markets, and the prices they set, are influenced by supply-and-demand factors, such as trouble in the Middle East that could result in less oil coming from that region of the world.

After oil prices, the rest of the price of a gallon of gas comes from taxes (14 percent) and costs associated with refining, moving and selling the gasoline (15 percent), according to API.

At the time of API’s most recent study, in late February, the national average price of regular-grade gasoline was $3.58 per gallon. By the group’s estimates and percentages, about $2.54 of that price covered crude oil costs, 50 cents went to taxes, and about 54 cents went into refining, moving and retailing.
Get geeky for more exact gas cost analysis

If you want to get geekier about where your gas money is going, you can do a more exact and up-to-date calculation on your own.

Here’s how:

• Find the price of a gallon of gas. Go online to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. For example, as of March 22, the auto club showed that a gallon of regular gasoline sold for about $3.88.
• Find the price of a gallon of oil. Head to Bloomberg.com’s Energy & Oil Prices page. As of March 22, it showed a barrel of oil selling for about $105.46. There are 42 gallons in a barrel of oil, so divide $105.46 by 42 to get $2.51 as the price of one gallon of oil. Again, a gallon of oil can be refined into one gallon of gasoline, according to API. So, about $2.51 of the March 22 price for a gallon of gas went toward the cost of the underlying oil. That works out to about 65 percent of what you paid at the pump.
• Find the cost of taxes. The federal tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon. On top of that, there are state taxes and, depending on where you live, local gasoline and/or sales taxes, too. If taxes are typical where you are, the API estimates you’re paying 49 cents per gallon in federal, state and local gas taxes, making up 12.5 percent of the average $3.88 gas price.

View interactive map of gas taxes by state

• Determine the cost of refining, transportation and retailing. The rest of the cost of gasoline goes to turning crude oil into fuel, moving it to gas stations and retail markup. Get this number by subtracting the amounts in steps 2 and 3 from the average price in step 1. In this case, that’s $3.88 minus $2.51 and minus 49 cents, which comes out to 88 cents for refining, transportation and retailing — or about 22.5 percent.

And that’s how you do the math. Keep in mind that taxes and other factors making up gas prices can differ by region, state, metro area and city. Check out our map on gasoline taxes by state to see how much of your gas money is going to federal and state taxes.

If you want more detail about your own local taxes, contact your city, county, and/or state department of revenue, department of finances, or the equivalent.

The Hunt

This Sunday is Easter Sunday

 

 

A big day for the Hutchinson family

 

 

Every year….

 

 

 

After we go to Mass….

 

 

 

We all head over to my Mom’s house

 

For Easter Brunch

 

 

 

Everybody chips in….

 

 

 

We have it down pat by now…

.

 

 

We all bring a dish

 

 

 

My sister Maureen coordinates

 

 

Janet always brings her sausage and egg casserole

 

 

 

A family favorite

 

 

 

There so much food there

 

You would think there were a 100….

 

People there

 

 

 

 

In a few years we may not be off the mark..

 

 

 

If all the grandchildren start having kids

 

We should hit the 100 mark pretty fast

 

 

 

After the meal is done….

 

 

 

 

The fun begins

 

 

 

We do an Easter egg hunt with a twist

 

 

 

There is a battle for the……

 

 

 

Hutch Trophy

 

 

 

This is a competition between the adults and children

 

 

 

We buy 2 puzzles and we take the pieces…..

 

 

 

And place each piece in a plastic egg

 

 

 

Then the children take their puzzle eggs and hide it

 

In the front yard

 

 

 

While the adults take their puzzle eggs

 

And hide them in the back yard

 

 

 

It can be vice a versa…..

 

 

 

When all the eggs are hidden, we meet inside

 

 

And then….

 

 

 

We are off and running

 

 

 

 

Who can find all the plastic eggs and….

 

 

 

Assemble their puzzle first

 

 

 

 

Think there is a little bit of competition going on?

 

 

 

Last summer I told you about the Hutch Olympics….

 

 

 

 

This is training

 

 

 

 

 

Each team is fighting to get bragging rights

 

 

 

The trophy sits in my mom’s kitchen all year….

 

 

 

As a gentle reminder…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family get togethers’ are great

 

 

There is a special bond that is reinforced

 

 

 

 

Time and time again

 

 

We all find ourselves laughing….

 

 

 

When we all……..

 

 

 

Are acting like children

 

 

 

We remember the simple……

 

 

 

Pleasures that life brings

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy and……

 

 

 

Treasure the time……

 

 

 

You share with your family

 

 

 

 

It is one of life’s little miracles

 

 

 

 

Happy Easter and Happy Passover to all

 

My family and friends

Gas prices fuel congressional campaign rhetoric

By DARREN  SAMUELSOHN | 3/30/12 5:57 PM EDT

President Barack Obama isn’t the only candidate who has to worry about  gasoline price spikes.

Take a look at members of Congress and their challengers, who are going all  out to express concern about the plight of American motorists — often with  personal stories of their own sticker shock.

Illinois GOP Rep. Bobby Schilling took a page from that  playbook this month when he invited reporters to watch him fork over a C-note to fill up his Chevy Suburban  at a Phillips 66 U-Save Mart in Moline. So did Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), who  opened a recent weekly e-newsletter by bemoaning her last $58 pit stop.

Others are content just to empathize.

Hence, Republican Jason Plummer — running to replace retiring Rep. Jerry  Costello (D-Ill.) — visited ConocoPhillips’s Wood River refinery outside St.  Louis to slam EPA policies that he blamed for driving up fuel prices. New York  GOP Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle’s YouTube moment came when she gave explicit instructions on  what she wanted Energy Secretary Steven Chu to tell his administration  colleagues: “The American people are hurting. They need you to do something  now.”

Expect to hear a lot of the same until November.

“This train stretches from New York City to Los Angeles with how many people  have jumped on it,” said Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst at  Gasbuddy.com., a fuel price tracking website. “Either you are for low gas prices  or you are going to get voted out of office. Everyone running is forced to talk  about it because the other party is.”

There’s good reason for all the gas pump bickering. A Gallup poll in March found that 65 percent of Americans  think Congress and the president can take actions to control gas prices, and  that 85 percent want “immediate actions to try to control the rising price of  gas.”

Blame is also easy to spread around. Senate Democrats tried to put  Republicans on the spot in March with a floor vote to repeal oil subsidies,  while House Republicans see rewards from a legislative agenda heavy on domestic  drilling and embarrassing the Obama administration on the Keystone XL  pipeline.

“I’m certain that with $4 gas, the American people will remember who listened  to them and who didn’t,” House Speaker John Boehner said in May before passing  one in a series of energy bills.

During last year’s price spikes, freshmen fanned out to meet with voters and  hear their complaints about fuel costs. Wisconsin GOP Rep. Reid Ribble’s visit to  an Appleton gas station made local TV newscasts, as did Republican Rep. Robert  Hurt’s stop with Virginia farmers, where he talked up offshore development and alternative energy.

The House websites for Ribble, Scott Rigell (R-Va.) and Indiana GOP Rep. Larry Bucshon all feature gas price surveys asking people to  vote on policy solutions.

Indicative of this year’s political stakes, Senate Republican candidates hoping  to help their party reclaim the majority are being much more aggressive than  their House counterparts with their attacks on Democrats.

Virginia Republicans, for example, have posted a video picking at the opening line of a response from  Democrat Tim Kaine at a town hall event when asked about gas price spikes. “I’ve  got to admit there’s some aspects about the gas price thing that makes me  scratch my head,” Kaine says in the clip — a comment his campaign says was taken  out of context.

Kaine’s likely opponent, former Republican Sen. George Allen,  is also up with a  website that allows visitors to type in the make and model of their car to  see how much more it costs to fill up their tank compared with when Obama came  into office.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s long-shot Republican opponent Elizabeth  Emken features a “#FeinsteinOnEmpty” hashtag on her website. She  also questions Feinstein’s past praise for Chu, who said in 2008 — before  joining the Obama administration — that he supported Europe-style gas prices in  the United States.

Democrats are in on the action too.

Indiana Democrats are squeezing Sen. Richard Lugar with a Web ad slamming the Republican over his support for a gas tax hike of $1 or more.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) sent an email to voters in February talking up legislation he has  co-sponsored that would curb oil market speculators.

He also solicited voters’ ideas on “what else you think we could do to bring  down gas prices.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill’s website tries to bust what she lists as six myths about gas prices (No. 5: “Nothing can be done to  bring down the price of fuel”). The Missouri Democrat also promotes her call for  Obama to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the second time during his  term.

Democratic candidates for House seats are also going after Republican  incumbents’ campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry, pairing them  with votes against repealing the industry’s subsidies.

Nearly identical press releases came out in late February from New Hampshire  Democratic candidate Annie Kuster, who is challenging Republican Rep. Charlie  Bass; Nevada state Assembly Speaker John Oceguera in his race against Rep. Joe Heck; former New  York Rep. Dan Maffei in his rematch against Buerkle; and Manan Trivedi  in his second attempt to unseat Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.).

“High gas prices? You can thank Washington insiders influencing Washington  insiders,” Trivedi posted on Twitter, where he linked to a statement criticizing Gerlach for supporting oil and gas  subsidies while taking more than $132,000 in campaign contributions from the  industry.

Outside groups are also weighing in on the gas price debate.

Public Campaign, a group with ties to MoveOn.org and labor unions, sponsored  two weeks of cable  TV ads against Republican Rep. Scott Tipton in his Western Colorado  district, knocking him for taking more than $100,000 in campaign contributions  from the oil and gas industry and questioning his vote against repealing the  industry’s subsidies.

The American Petroleum Institute has already spent generously this cycle,  mostly to help Republicans, including House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred  Upton (R-Mich.), Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), Science  Chairman Ralph Hall (R-Texas), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and  Boehner. The trade group also ran radio and print ads ahead of the Senate  subsidy debate in the Senate and presidential battleground states of Maine,  Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

Karl Rove’s American Crossroads is also going after vulnerable House and  Senate Democrats, including $1.5 million spent so far challenging McCaskill. The  attacks include a  website called “The Truth About Claire” that questions her commitment to  lowering gas prices.

The group’s spokesman Nate Hodson said the group “won’t be shy” when spending  tens of millions more this cycle to raise the gas price issue in congressional  races. “It’s what voters are paying attention to right now,” he said.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 5:41 p.m. on March 30,  2012.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74690_Page2.html#ixzz1r6jsxV7S