Electricity
What Does a Superstorm Look Like?
In previous blog posts, we have examined how weather and other events affect electricity prices. What Does a Derecho Look Like? What Does a Warm Day Look Like? What Does an Earthquake Look Like? We continue this series by looking at how Superstorm Sandy impacted electricity prices in the PJM service area. After marching northward…
Read MoreBest Friends? – Natural Gas and Electricity Prices – An Update
By David White In a post from January 2012, the declining correlation between the price of natural gas and the price of electricity was explored (click here). At that time, the correlation between the two was declining as a result of the greater recovery in electricity prices relative to those of natural gas. The graphs…
Read MoreWhat Does a Derecho Look Like?
Late Friday, June 29, 2012 a destructive set of thunderstorms swept through the Mid-Atlantic region. With winds of up to 80 mph, the storms produced extensive damage and left several million utility customers without electricity. The National Weather Service (NWS) refers to this kind of fast-moving, long-lived, large, and violent thunderstorm complex as a “derecho.”…
Read MoreWhat does a warm day look like?
What does a warm day look like? Here are several ways of looking at one particularly warm day – June 21, 2012. The blue line on the graph below shows instantaneous electricity demand in PJM (see note 1). Electricity demand ebbed to 88,367 megawatts at 4:25 AM and then began to rise as temperatures in…
Read MoreAvalon Energy Services Completes New Energy Supply Contracts on Behalf of Clarion Partners
Avalon Energy Services recently completed an electricity procurement process for five properties in Washington, DC owned by Clarion Partners, LLC. Under the new supply contracts, the five buildings will pay 27% less, in aggregate, than what they currently pay under existing contracts. Avalon Energy Services’ press release related to this was picked up by a…
Read MoreEnergy Prices Always Go Up (continued)
As discussed on this blog, there is a common perception that energy prices have been, and continue to be, on a one way path upwards. In previous posts we focused on natural gas and showed that rather than rising, natural gas prices have, in fact, fallen dramatically, over both the short run and the long…
Read MoreCape Wind
It was recently reported that a power purchase agreement between National Grid and Cape Wind was approved by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. National Grid is committed to purchasing half of the output of the project at a starting price of 18.7 cents per kilowatt-hour. This price will then escalate 3.5% per year for 15…
Read MoreBest Friends? – Natural Gas and Electricity Prices
We have looked at historical and forward natural gas prices. How have electricity prices been behaving? The graph above shows the monthly average of electricity prices at PJM West (a trading hub where electric generation is concentrated) spanning the 131 month period of time of January 2001 through November 2011. Like natural gas, electricity prices…
Read MoreTrade Association Buying Groups – Who Benefits?
Do businesses benefit by purchasing energy through trade association buying groups? In many cases “no.” How can that be? First, some background. The term “load profile” refers to the variation of an electricity user’s electrical load versus time. Load profiles vary by customer categories (residential, commercial and industrial) and by individual customer within those categories.…
Read MoreFixed Price versus Variable Price Energy Supply Contracts
When purchasing energy, there is a price/risk continuum between fixed price contracts and variable price contracts. Fixed price contracts allow you to minimize your exposure to price risk by transferring this risk to a supplier. With a variable price contract, you are accepting the risk associated with changes in the market price of electricity. This…
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