http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_a_EPLLPA_PRS_dpgal_w.htm Looking at Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Minnesota, for example, vs. Alabama, Texas, and Georgia. This is not consistent with classic capitalistic supply und demand economics, and is therefore part of The Global Communist Conspiracy or somethin'.
Nothing to do with the energy sector has as much to do with supply side as it has to do with addiction side economics. If a person or corp can capitalize on people's laziness and/or convenience they can rake in the profit. Same goes for consumer electronics.
Whatchutalkinaboutwillis. This has to do with climate and geography how? Are the people in Georgia more lazy than the people in Nebraska and thus more susceptible to price gouging? Not sure where you're trying to go with this. This story is nearly two years old. Plus it discusses the inability to ship fuel from Texas, not why Texans are paying more.
Profit has everything to do with climate and geography. The ability to make a profit isn't solely based on supply anymore. Whatever can be taken advantage of for more profit is the way business is done. You can bet your bottom dollar that if old laws get in the way of more profit, they will be eliminated or amended. Energy use is not based entirely on needs. Now the convenience of flipping a switch, programming a digital device to energize everything and forgetting about it, and never thinking about the consumption is the way of life here. Gone are the days of weekends spent chopping wood for the winter. People are dependent/addicted to energy. No thought is given to the cost. The marketing of nearly everything is geared towards the concept: "get 'em addicted, raise the price, rake in the cash". Those old laws talked of in the article were made during a different market climate but were spawned of the same greed that forms laws today.
