It is not often – read “never” – that a CEO’s decision NOT to attend a conference is a global headline but so it was this weekend when Amin Nasser, the veteran CEO of Saudi Aramco, withdrew from CERAWeek in order to attend to matters closer to home. Mr. Nasser’s withdrawal underlines that the focus for all of us still heading to Houston will be on the Straits of Hormuz and its short, medium and long term consequences on gasoline prices. And all the while, the focus on high gasoline prices at CERA this week is likely to obscure the other energy price shock lurking in the shadows which is the inexorable rise of electricity prices across the United States. Unlike gasoline prices, once retail electricity prices rise, they almost never go down.