New laws may attract private investment into gas and electricity, but not soon.

ECONOMIST: Chavez’s muddled new world | The

So if history shows that proposed anti-price-gouging legislation has fallen flat on its face, and if two federal agencies have said they haven't found any evidence of price gouging by oil and natural gas companies, and no one has been prosecuted under existing laws for price fixing, then why the new legislation?

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Currently there are no laws in place to enforce checks for fire safety, gas boilers and electricity so tenants are reliant on the goodwill of their landlord.

BBC: Val Cameron

At the heart of the cases is the interpretation of a state law passed in 1981 that says regulation of the oil and gas industry rests solely with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which "supersedes" local laws and ordinances.

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Price gouging laws keep money prices low, but there are lots of other ways to pay for gas.

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The decisions are predicated on federal and state environmental laws as well as prior court cases, not to mention the relative cheap price of natural gas.

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