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Urgent Energy Update

St. Clair Newbern IV — Sat, 15 Apr 2023 01:11:43 +0000

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Urgent Energy Update

Howdy, y’all! Edison Thrustwell here, blastin’ in from the Live Energy-verse, with an urgent energy update that explains what’s going on with commercial electricity rates.

If you’re the one buyin’ electricity for your business, then listen up! Or share this with your boss, or manager or whoever the real decision maker is. They’ll be glad you did.

I’m gonna cut through the bull and tell you the important stuff that just might save your hide.

In Texas and much of the US, natural gas sets the price of electricity.

Right now natty gas is cheap. Why? Well, winter never showed in the US, and not in Europe either, where they were closin’ all the factories and burnin’ Ikea furniture to stay warm.

Last year when we were hyperventilating about running out, natty gas ran up to ten dollars per MMBTU. Since then, prices have crashed. BIG TIME! Like Kanye West’s career. Down below three dollars. Now we’re sitting on a massive stockpile that’s 19% above the five year average.

So what’s this mean for wholesale electricity prices? In north Texas, electricity is trading just under four cents per kilowatt-hour for the balance of the year. Twenty twenty-eight peaks at around four point seven cents. Then in twenty twenty nine, we get back down to four point four cents.

Not too shabby considerin’ last year’s dumpster fire, when rates were one to two times higher. But don’t go gettin’ too cozy with these prices. We all know the liquefied natural gas party is just gettin’ started. LNG export capacity is likely to start rampin’ up in twenty twenty-four, and could more than double by twenty twenty-eight.

So, we know we’re gonna be shippin’ a lot more natty gas to Europe and Asia. We also know the bigwigs are determined to send all the coal plants to meet their maker. The way I see it is pretty simple. Less coal plants and more LNG exports is a recipe for a tight gas market.

Said another way, when natty gas is left standing there, like the least ugly dance partner at the hoedown, I reckon prices will increase. Maybe this summer. Maybe this winter. The problem is not knowin’ when.

Could prices go lower? Is a frog’s hind end water tight? You betcha! But I gotta tell ya, It feels to me like we’re skipping off the bottom. A better question is, could prices go higher? And to that, I say, Does a redneck love his truck more than his cousin? Of course!

Look, with all the crazy stuff goin’ on in the world, this energy market’s as unpredictable as a jackrabbit on a pogo stick. This leads to fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Chewin’ at your insides like a hungry beaver in a woodpile. That nasty feelin’ is as justified as a hound dog barkin’ at a full moon. But it sure doesn’t need to be this way.

Picture yourself gettin’ savvy, lockin’ in low rates before they blast higher again, and ridin’ off into the sunset with a grin stretchin’ wider than the Rio Grande. Sounds like a dream, huh? Well, partner, it’s time to stop dreamin’ and start doin’.

Live Energy is like havin’ your own personal sidekick watchin’ the electricity market in real-time, ready to hoot and holler the second you can rope in savings. Consider it free insurance, so you don’t find yourself in a pickle, facin’ sky-high electricity rates, feelin’ as helpless as a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest.

Now giddy up and get on it! Mosey on over to LiveEnergy dot com and tell us how we can help. Let us do the monkey work so you can do more important things. Like sippin’ craft whisky and watchin’ the sun set. Or smokin’ a brisket.

What are you waitin’ for, partner?

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A Silver Bullet to Fix the Texas Electricity Market

St. Clair Newbern IV — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 04:21:40 +0000

Snowpocalypse, Texas 2021

On February 14th, 2021 an arctic blast brought the “snowpocalypse” to Texas. By the early morning hours of February 15th, the ERCOT grid saw both record demand for electricity and simultaneously a massive loss of generating capacity.

The extreme weather, which deviated significantly beyond any scenario contemplated by ERCOT, wreaked havoc on infrastructure across all fuel sources. This included coal, natural gas, nuclear and wind. As generation tripped offline, the frequency plummeted and we were seconds away from an uncontrolled, catastrophic blackout that could have lasted weeks or months.

ERCOT was left with no choice but to declare Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) Level 3 and initiate rolling blackouts across the state. Unfortunately, for many the blackouts did not roll. They simply left customers in the dark for days.

The shortage of generating capacity caused the real-time price of electricity to skyrocket to $9,000 MWh. Homes and businesses on real-time, index-based contracts were exposed to this price which translates to $9.00 /kWh. Homes that would normally only pay about $4 per day for electricity were now running up a bill of $360 per day. This calculation assumes monthly consumption of 1,200 kWh and a normal, all-in rate of $.10 /kWh.

Was there a silver bullet?

This all begs a question. Did we really use every single tool that we could have used? Was there a silver bullet that could have led to a different outcome?

In my humble opinion the answer is yes. As a matter of fact, it’s a pretty simple concept and Texas has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars to deploy the infrastructure needed to enable the aforementioned silver bullet.

Remember, we knew there was a serious weather event bearing down on Texas in the week leading up to the snowpocalypse. But it wasn’t until February 14th that ERCOT requested voluntary conservation measures to protect grid reliability. By the time consumers woke up on Monday, February 15th the weather problem had snowballed into a financial problem as well.

What if, instead of a polite request to conserve energy, ERCOT and all retail energy providers (REPs) sent a notice to customers that explained the potential severity of the incoming weather. Further, what if that notice also informed customers that they could actually earn a credit of up to $9.00 /kWh if they curtailed usage during the event?

Profit is the Ultimate Motivator

At that point every customer in the market would have had a choice to make. Conservation would not have simply been a matter of collective virtue, it would have become a financial decision that had the prospect of significant, immediate upside. Money in the bank.

If consumers were given the opportunity to offset the entire cost of their next month’s bill, would they have behaved differently? What if they could have earned $1,000 or $2,000 by taking extreme curtailment measures? Maybe I’m cynical, but I believe that the power of dead presidents (cash) is exponentially more compelling than the gratification of “doing your part”.

The Most Powerful Lever

So now we must ask, why didn’t we pull one of the most powerful levers available in the market? Why wasn’t ERCOT equipped with one more tool of last resort that could have tapped the aggregate flexibility of the retail load? Why didn’t we truly let the free market work by allowing proper price assignment to flow directly to those who could deliver (through curtailment) the resource needed to avoid catastrophe?

It is important to note that when the system is short power, 1 MWh produced by a generator has the exact same impact as 1 MWh of curtailment. Curtailed load simply serves as a virtual generator. In both scenarios the grid’s supply / demand imbalance is improved by the exact same amount as measured in MWh. For all intents and purposes, there is no difference.

For the most part, during the snowpocalypse, the financial upside in the real-time market was reserved for the generators. They were the only market participants who really had the ability to capture the market value of the price spikes in a significant way. Why? This is where it gets a little more complicated.

“Smart Meter” Data is Quite Often Inaccurate

Here’s one of the problems I uncovered through ongoing conversations with REPs in recent years. Historically, it has been practically impossible to build a residential electric business model around load-side curtailment because Advanced Metering Systems (AMS) aka “Smart Meter” data is quite often inaccurate. How so?

Instead of settling based on actual meter data, settlement data is produced by first reading the meter, then applying algorithmic adjustments before it is sent to the REPs. For example, if the smart meter data records zero usage on a given interval, this gap may be assumed to be an error, so the zero is replaced with an estimated usage value intended to reflect normal / expected usage.

This very issue was highlighted this week and the PUCT and TDSPs created a work-around that is intended to reverse the inaccurate algorithmic adjustments. Had this not been addressed then customers who were actually experiencing a blackout could have been billed for normal usage based on an estimate of normal usage.

Will they fix the problem moving forward?

That resolves the problem for the past week but the problem still exists within the TDSPs’ algorithms. So, will they fix the problem moving forward? Who knows? And if they do, will they be transparent enough and share when and how any such “corrections” are made so they can be reconciled if they’re made in error?

What if a retailer wanted to structure products designed to leverage the scenario contemplated here, where utilization of retail load as a resource to capture price premiums was baked into the contract? And all of the technology was in place to notify the customer of the opportunity to avoid costs and make money through deployment of the load-side assets to stop the meter from spinning.

But then, after the retailer and the customer perform, the REP receives data which has been algorithmically adjusted to remove the curtailment activity. The REP and the customer who expected to receive payments at $9,000 /MWh are now stuck owing $9,000 /MWh, with no efficient reconciliation process.

Another problem. Even if the AMS process is flawless, legacy paradigms still plague our thinking: customers won’t like it if they lose their electricity; customers must have 100% reliability; load is inelastic…. Really? Load was quite elastic last week! The only problem is, consumers didn’t get paid for it, only generators did.

Legacy Paradigms Strangle Innovation

These legacy paradigms have led to market rules that ignore the reality that load is elastic, even on a voluntary basis, particularly when we start talking about $9,000 /MWh. The regulations and protocols need to change to reflect this reality and unleash innovation. With the introduction of renewables (intermittent power sources) this is the least expensive and quickest way to resolve future problems.

I want to be clear. I am not trying to impugn any market participant. I also concede that this is a very complicated issue and I do not pretend to fully understand every detail. But I do believe strongly that the current system fails to leverage one of the most powerful tools available. Retail load represents a massive, elastic, virtual power plant that’s ready to be tapped.

The Airline Analogy

I’ll leave you with one final analogy to make my point. When we fly on airplanes we are often notified at the terminal that the flight has been oversold. There are not enough seats for all passengers to make the flight. They can’t just install an extra seat to increase supply. The only option is to reduce demand.

So, the airline makes the first offer. “This flight has been oversold. If you’d be willing to switch to a later flight, come on up and claim your $500 voucher!” If the offer isn’t accepted, the airline ups the ante. Maybe they offer $1,000 and a free hotel. At some point the offer is sweetened to the point where it becomes irresistible. Everybody has a price.

When the offer reaches a certain value, somebody takes the offer and the supply / demand imbalance is resolved. In my 47 years of flying I have seen this work every single time. It makes complete sense and it’s not the least bit complicated.

The changes required to create the same kind of accelerating economic incentive for load to relieve supply / demand imbalances in the power market is not complicated, and the snowpocalypse has just given us the ultimate incentive to figure out how to make it work.

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Biden Administration Impact on Energy in America

St. Clair Newbern IV — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 20:37:00 +0000

Now that we’re at the precipice, many are wondering, “What will the impact of a Biden administration have on the energy industry in America?” Great question! Since my job is to think about this for a living I’ve got a few thoughts. Tell me where I’m right or wrong.

If Joe Biden is elected, energy will most definitely become one of the hottest topics in America. His rise to power coincides with major paradigms shifts that are already underway in the energy industry. Think commodity, renewables, sustainability, resilience. Biden’s leadership (or lack thereof) will play a major role in determining our fate.

I’ve been an energy broker and consultant for 20 years. Things have not changed much since I started in 2001. However, I can assure you that over the next decade we will see the energy industry undergo more change than we’ve seen over the past 100 years. Whether the US will lead or follow will become increasingly clear in the next four years.

If Democrats Take The Senate

We know for a fact, the Democrat-led House of Representatives will pursue an aggressive legislative agenda. If Democrats manage to take the Senate as well, then buckle up! Green New Deal, here we come. Fast and furious policy changes could rock the energy industry on many fronts.

Without going into all the gory details, I can comfortably assure increased volatility in every energy market. No sector or niche will escape the winds of change. Natural gas and electricity prices will trend higher. Oil is more complicated as it’s a global market, but I think it’s safe to assume higher volatility for the foreseeable future. Geopolitical jockeying will play heavily on oil.

If Republicans Hold On

If the Republicans retain the Senate they will throttle the depth and rate of change. New legislation will require bi-partisan support. In my opinion, this is a good thing. We can only hope that being forced to work together will spare us from the really bad policies, while enabling changes that make enough sense to garner bi-partisanship. I implore both sides of the aisle to work together in good faith. Wouldn’t that be refreshing?

There are some really smart things we could do as a country and I would love to see sensible policy that furthers competition and innovation, without destroying the good parts of the legacy system, or backsliding in areas of recent progress. In this scenario, where Republicans control the Senate, I still expect increased volatility and higher electricity and natural gas prices, but nowhere near what I expect if the Democrats control the House, Senate and White House.

Fracking Is Only a Small Component

Seems like the campaigns focused solely on “the fracking” debate. While this is a significant issue that has the potential to significantly impact the market, there’s a lot more going on.

Renewables are already competitive with fossil fuels, without subsidies. Sustainability is no longer just a mechanism for virtue signaling. The rapidly improving economics of renewables is driving adoption purely on the merits. Renewables will increasingly shape the evolution of the energy markets as we work to solve for intermittency. Enter affordable battery storage and the game changes fast.

With the right policies, I think we can harness the promise of renewables without abrupt destruction of the oil and gas industry. To be clear, we’re not fully “transitioning” off of nuclear and fossil fuels anytime soon. The laws of physics and economics ensure that both nuclear and fossil fuels will play a role in delivering the energy we need globally for the foreseeable future.

The New Paradigm

We are experiencing a paradigm shift in how we generate, manage, and consume energy. The legacy system is one of centralization, monopolies, and forfeited opportunity. Monolithic, vertically integrated utilities have stymied innovation and desperately clung to power over the markets. But the times they are a-changin’.

The energy industry is being pried from the dead cold hands of the “Energy OGs”. Innovations in market design and technology are driving the shift. In the new paradigm, energy is no longer a one-way street where we’re simply passive takers of supply and price.

It is abundantly clear that the future is one where every load is also a (monetizable) resource. Every business should begin to think of themselves in this way. As a load and a resource. A buyer and a seller. Optimization of assets, participation in demand response, and energy efficiency initiatives are empowering businesses to exert more control over their energy spend than ever before. And we’re only getting started.

Biden : Hero or Zero?

A Biden administration has a massive opportunity to build on the momentum that already exists; to transform our energy industry in thoughtful and strategic ways. There is no reason to “tear down the whole industry” and rebuild it. The innovators are here. The solutions are here. We can see the promised land.

The US energy industry is certainly overdue for a recalibration of priorities. We need to carefully rethink the incentives and structural changes needed to move the industry forward. If Biden’s administration can thread that needle and unleash the full potential of American innovation, he may well preside over the biggest transformation in the energy industry since Edison created the lightbulb.

If Biden turns energy policy over to ideologues who don’t understand where we are today and fail to leverage current momentum, then we are doomed to repeat the mistakes that have been made around the world and in the US (think California electricity deregulation).

The world is riddled with examples of disastrous policies that could have easily been avoided if the bureaucrats simply tapped into the wisdom of those who are already on the ground, working to usher in a new era in energy. I am cautiously optimistic that bi-partisan efforts bolstered by the best minds in the energy industry can deliver the goods.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

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Natural Gas Shortfall Pushing Commercial Electricity Prices Higher

St. Clair Newbern IV — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 18:48:33 +0000

As we enter the heating season in the US the amount of natural gas in storage is lower than we’ve seen in about a decade. In last weeks report the Energy Information Agency reported a net injection of 90 BCF. This brings the total stock to 2,956 BCF which is 17% lower than last year at this time and the 5 year average.

So what does this mean for commercial electricity prices? It means that you should no longer take low volatility and a sideways market for granted. There is a significantly higher likelihood that we will continue to see electricity prices trending higher versus lower for the foreseeable future. Businesses with contracts expiring any time in the next 18 to 24 months should be carefully examining options and consider locking in while we’re still near historic lows.

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Cheapest Electricity Generation Technology

St. Clair Newbern IV — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 20:05:01 +0000

Check out this cool app created by The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute. It allows you to see what the lowest electricity generation source is on a county level throughout the US. Seeing the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is interesting but should not be confused with the retail cost of electricity. Based on a quick look it appears that the LCOEs reflected are lower than retail residential but higher than commercial electricity rates.

https://calculators.energy.utexas.edu/lcoe_map/#/county/cost

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Natural Gas, Crude Oil and Commercial Electricity Rates

St. Clair Newbern IV — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 20:30:06 +0000

Natural Gas

Natural gas prices fell well below the expected price as it continues to fall on the market. Prices fell from the $3.40/MMBtu mark all the way down to $3.23/MMBtu. This marks the lowest point natural gas has reached in over 4 months. Cooler temperatures this summer could be attributed to this price decline, granted temperatures have risen recently. Prices are expected to continue to decline due to the bearish outlook natural gas has put out. Storage received an injection of 96 this past week. This amount was well above the expected output, but still far from equaling the storage totals from last year. Despite this, storage is 20 Bcf above the 5 year average. The East region once again received the highest amount of this injection.

Crude Oil

After a week flirting with the $110/barrel plateau, oil took a sharp decline. Oil prices fell to around $102/barrel which would mark the lowest point oil has reached in over 2 weeks. Analyst believe with the large stockpiles increasing prices could drop below the $100 mark sometime in September.

Commercial Electricity Prices

ERCOT: Rates were seen between .061 – .077 cents.

PJM: Prices seen between .069 – .084 cents.

NY-ISO: Rates were found between .067 – .081 cents.

Weather Outlook

This upcoming week the South will be looking at temperatures increasing anywhere from 2 – 6 degrees above average. The East will be having cooler than expected temperatures, 0 -2 degrees cooler. The West and Midwest should experience a similar fate with temperature rising 2-4 degrees above average. Hurricane season thus far has not been as chaotic as once thought, helping gas prices fall well below the $3.50 trading mark.

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Crude Oil, Natural Gas and Commercial Electricity Market Update

St. Clair Newbern IV — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 16:46:21 +0000

Natural Gas

Natural Gas took a sharp turn this week in the market, in which prices have begun to fall over .05 cents a day. The previous week had prices pegged around the $3.70/MMBtu, however prices are well below that now. On Monday some experts believed they had seen the low prices of the week at around $3.46/MMbtu, but the market proved that was just the beginning. Prices could potentially fall below todays price of $3.40/MMBtu. Storage received an injection of 59 Bcf, which is 15 Bcf more than the previous week. The East received the largest injection, and total storage improved to 2845 Bcf. This is still well below last years numbers but within the 5 year historical range.

Crude Oil

After a week of falling, crude oil began to revert to it’s old form and began to climb once again this week, despite it being minimal. With a bullish outlook, crude oil should continue to climb. Prices began the week around $104.5/barrel, and never looked back. Prices continue to climb and should reach above the $110/barrel mark by early next week. Prices currently sit at $107.5/barrel but should rise above $108/barrel by the end of the day.

Commercial Electricity Prices

ERCOT: Rates were seen between .062 – .076 cents

NYISO: Prices were found between .059 – .088 cents

PJM: Rates have been found between .054 – .067 cents

Weather

The Midwest should be experiencing quite a cool down, with temperatures expected to be 4 – 6 degrees cooler than normal. Temperatures in the South are expected to rise around 2 – 4 degrees above normal. The Western part of the US is expected to stay relatively similar to it’s historical average. The East coast could see anywhere from a 0 – 2 increase over the next few days. After this week, temperatures are expected to increase all across the country especially in the South.

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Natural Gas, Electricity and Crude Oil Update

St. Clair Newbern IV — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:56:54 +0000

Natural Gas

After a bearish market the past month, natural gas finally reverted to a bullish state. After weeks of falling below the $3.70/MMBtu threshold, Monday provided a breakthrough for the gas market. Prices shot through the barrier and settled at $3.74/MMBtu for a weekly high. However this weekly high didn’t last long. Prices fell to around the $3.69/MMBtu on Thursday, eliminating any progress in which the market had gained this past week. Storage received an injection of 41 Bcf, much the below the anticipated amount of 58 Bcf. The East as usual received the largest of the injection at 25 Bcf. Storage is still 399 Bcf shy of last years mark, but still remains within the 5 year historical range.

Photo by Tod Baker

Crude Oil

Crude oil remains bullish despite seeing the largest 2 day loss this summer. Prices began falling on Tuesday, and have continued to decline. However despite this drop, production continues to grow. This is one of the reasons the market was able to stay above the $105/barrel. According to an article on Bloomberg.com, Phil Flynn states “Yesterday’s report showed that U.S. oil production was at a 22-year high last week. The durable goods number was good but it wasn’t enough to move the market into positive territory.” Flynn, a market expert, believes the key reason the market has held up so well is because of oil production being so high. Many experts believe before the weekend that the market will rebound and continue it’s bullish outlook. Price for oil on Thursday was listed at $105.02/barrel. Look for oil to stay above the $100/barrel range.

Commercial Electricity

ERCOT: Prices range between .056 – .088 cents

MISO: Prices are showing between .048 – .079 cents

NYISO: Prices range between .051 – .081 cents

PJM: Prices were seen between .057 – .094 cents

Weather

The South will not receive any favors this time via the weather, with warmer than normal temperatures expected. The West will also experience temperatures well above their averages. The Midwest and North should see cooler temperatures than usual.

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Natural Gas, Crude Oil, and Electricity Rates. Oh my

St. Clair Newbern IV — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 17:06:46 +0000

Natural Gas

Natural gas has failed to breach the $3.70/MMBtu once again this week, however prices did not fall below $3.60/MMbtu. The low point in the market this week was $3.62/MMBtu slightly above last weeks low point. Prices have risen since then, all the way up to $3.69/MMBtu. Gas has seem to stabilized in this range for the past 3 weeks. Storage received an injection once again, however this time it was well below what was predicted. Analyst believed it to be somewhere in the upper 70’s Bcf but storage only increased by 58 Bcf. The East continues to receive the most of the injection. Storage is far below what we had last year at this time, 414 Bcf to be exact, however seeing injections this low is a positive sign. Storage is currently 101 Bcf below the 5 year average but is still within the 5 year historial range. With lower injections, natural gas could potentially see a rise in prices, causing it to exceed the $3.70 mark for the first time in July.

Crude Oil

Crude oil continues to rise with the combination of the declining stockpiles and the U.S. economy. This previous week, Bernanke offered good news for the Federal Reserve which has viewed well by the citizens. A direct result of fewer people claiming unemployment benefits is the rise of crude oil price. According to an article at Bloomberg.com oil prices will continue to climb due to the economy. Correl, who is a senior energy analyst out of Kentucky, believes the lower amount of jobless claims has made an impact on oil prices for the better. Oil prices are currently at $107.8/barrel and rising. This is the highest crude oil has been in the past 15 months. With more good news, the market could reach well above $110/barrel before the end of the month. The bullish market has been dominating it’s gas counter part the past couple of months.

Commercial Electricity

ERCOT: Prices ranging between .056 – .078 cents

MISO: Rates have been varying between .08 – .103 cents

PJM: Prices have been seen between .08 – .11 cents

NYISO: Rates have been seen between .09 – .132 cents

Weather

Weather for this week should remain much of the same. The South should experience cooler temperatures earlier in the week, followed by a slight increase in temperature for the remainder of the week. Expect temperatures to only increase a max of 2 degrees. The Northeast will experience the most change, with anywhere from a 6 – 10 degree increase in temperature. The West should also see a rise in temperature, however it will not be as drastic as the East. The West should see temperatures rise to 4 – 8 degrees above normal. The Midwest should stay relatively calm with an increase possible anywhere from 2 – 4 degrees. The U.S. has continued to heat up during this historically hot month. A/C’s should be in full effect, especially in the Northeast which is experiencing one of it’s hottest summer’s in a long time.

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Natural Gas, Crude Oil and Commercial Electricity Price Update

St. Clair Newbern IV — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 20:18:36 +0000

Natural Gas

Natural gas prices experienced a roller coaster ride this week, beginning in the upper $3.60/MMBtu range and then falling sharply to $3.60/MMBtu. Prices then rebounded above the $3.70 mark on to drop once again to $3.63/MMBtu today. Despite the crazy ride gas took this week, prices are far above the low posted last week by .11 cents. The market switched from a bearish outlook to a small bullish. Storage received an injection of 82 Bcf, moving storage to 2687 Bcf. Despite this gain, storage is 443 Bcf below last years high mark. Storage is still within the 5 year average.

Crude Oil

Crude oil has been relatively stable for the past week. Prices stayed above the $100/barrel mark for the 2nd straight week. Prices hit a high point of $106/barrel on Monday, despite being short lived. Prices hit a low of $102/barrel due to the speculation that Egypt would resolve the crisis involving their president. This brought prices down, however didn’t have a huge effect on oil. U.S. stockpiles continue to decline, however this depletion is starting to slow. Current prices for crude oil are 104.78/barrel. The outlook on oil is still bullish, after increasing nearly $5 from last week.

Commercial Electricity

Normally the grid experiences peaks on the back end of the month, but analyst are already keeping a steady eye on the Texas grid. With predictions of the peak reaching around 63,500 , this would be one of the earliest times the grid has experience this high of peaks. The end of the month is also expected to see some highs as well, much larger than 63.5 K

ERCOT:

Prices were seen between .05 cents – .079 cents

PJM:

Prices ranged between .048 cents – .072 cents

NYISO:

Prices varied between .049 cents – .082 cents

MISO

Prices ranged between .04 cents – .07 cents

Weather Outlook

As the summer begins into it’s second month, temperatures will be on the rise across most of the country. The South will be experiencing an increase in temperatures from 2 – 6 degrees throughout next week. The Northeast will be experience similar temperatures through the weekend that they have been experiencing. Next week however a increase of 2 -4 degrees is expected. The West will continue to see dry, hot temperatures, with an increase anywhere from 2 -4 degrees. The Midwest, which has been relatively cooler than normal, will see a decrease in temperatures this weekend. However, this is only to be followed by an increase of 2-6 degrees the following week. These temperature increases could explain why the grid in Texas is already experiencing high peak power loads this early July.

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