Energy Deregulation is good for me how???

Driving into work this morning, I hear on the CBC news that across the country, we are all facing energy prices (in particular for heating) that are some 50% higher than last year.

So, under a pricing regime that is set in Chicago - or wherever the 'energy futures' are being traded, I am facing a 50% hike in my month to month energy costs. ( I have no delusion that electricity rates are not going to skyrocket in a similar fashion.)

Would somebody please explain to me how this is a "good" thing? I live in a country that is one of the world's biggest producers of natural gas, and I am being forced to pay what kind of price to heat _my_ home with _my_ country's resources??? I'm sorry, but it does seem a little ludicrous that the price paid here for those resources is set by some futures trader who is all worried about whether or not the US has enough crude oil sitting in its "strategic petroleum reserves".

Under deregulation, I get to live with prices that fluctuate at the whim of futures traders that are so far removed from my reality that it's laughable. If Russia suddenly stops producing natural gas, my heating bills go up? What's with that? On top of that, the local deregulation in Alberta has formed an environment where my various utility bills are populated - better than 50% by various "charges" and "fees" of one sort or another. When you have questions about these fees and billing practices, you are thrust into a morass of pseudo-regulatory crap that is all clearly structured to prevent you from ever getting a straight answer.

Ah, the "Alberta Advantage", only in "Ralph's World (tm)".

Remember, the people running under the Progressive Conservative banner in Alberta are asking once again for us to re-elect them another four years. Do they really deserve it?