Skyrocketing Wholesale Electricity Price this Winter (not)

Dec 3:

The high price of ISO electricity today seems to have made me eat my prior words...

because:

1) The grid crooks and speculators know the authorities and politicians are watching them. 

2) Natural Gas pipelines planning is ongoing.

3) The crooks and speculator would like to see weakening prices so as to disrupt the new pipelines.

4) The benchmark energy source petroleum is in steep decline. 

ISO-New England's Winter Outlook Again Shows Need ForMore NatGas Pipelines

David Bradley 

November 21, 2014

New England should have sufficient resources in place this winter to meet consumer demand for electricity, but "insufficient pipeline capacity to meet power generators' demand for natural gas continues to be a particular concern during the winter months," according to the region's grid operator. 

"New England's dependence on natural gas puts the region in a vulnerable position, especially during cold weather, because the current pipeline infrastructure cannot deliver all the gas required to serve both heating customers and power generators," the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE) said in its 2014-2015 Winter Outlook. "Most gas-fired generators do not have firm contracts for natural gas delivery and instead rely on the release of spare pipeline capacity from gas utilities. 

"With increased residential and business conversions to natural gas for heating, spare pipeline capacity is often not available for power plants." 

The call for more natural gas infrastructure has become a common plea from the region in recent years (see Daily GPI, Oct. 31; Sept. 30; Jan. 23). New England's governors last year vowed cooperation to improve the region's energy infrastructure (see Daily GPI, Dec. 6, 2013).

Last winter, demand for electricity in ISO-NE's footprint peaked at 21,453 MW on Dec. 17, and "periods of sustained cold weather boosted demand for natural gas, causing severe pipeline constraints that led to record-high natural gas prices," ISO-NE said. "As a result, for much of winter 2013/2014, natural gas was often more expensive than oil, which is relatively uncommon."