Eric Johnson said:EDIT: Nofo beats me to again. He made my point about efficiency and gave you some numbers to work with. Good man, as usual.
HA! Fastest post in the east (blows smoke off of index finger).
Right now, electric is almost dead even with oil in terms of cost.
I'd be careful about meddling with the market, whether liberal, fascist, neocon, or fruitarian. We are in a global economy, and we do not set, control, or have much influence over the price of a barrel of crude oil. Limiting the price that can be charged for fuel oil woul have several likely outcomes, few of them good:
1) There would be less incentive for end-users to switch to other alternatives (like wood)
2) If the profit margin is squeezed too much, it will inhibit investment in infrastructure and improvements to the production and distribution.
3) If the cost of crude oil becomes too high relative to the allowable price for the refined product, you will have massive shortages. No one will produce a product at a loss.
Just my $.02