In the News: Jim McDonnell Talks Energy Markets and Covid-19

By Evelyn Teel Our Chief Operating Officer, Jim McDonnell, was the lead-off speaker for the first session of the Maryland Clean Energy Center’s Energy Economy Speaker Series. The topic wasState of the Sector: Impacts of Covid-19 on the Energy Economy. Jim provided a broad energy market update and then focused on the differential impact of…

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Down, Down, Down: Energy Prices in the 2010s

By Evelyn Teel A previous blog post highlighted the shale gas revolution as arguably the most significant energy-related development of the previous decade (you can find the post here: https://avalonenergy.us/2019/12/shale-we-review-the-2010s/). In this article, we will discuss another trend that was significant in the 2010s – declining energy prices. Natural Gas Prices  One major effect of…

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New England Electricity Rates: Quite a Difference

By Jim McDonnell and Evelyn Teel, Avalon Energy Services, LLC Compared to the rest of the United States, electricity prices in New England are high.  Nothing surprising there.  So, just how expensive are they?  Well, it depends.  And, the surprising part is which utility, in one comparison, has the lowest rates. First, some background. Eversource…

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Balancing Congestion

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a change in PJM’s (the Mid-Atlantic grid operator) tariff, allowing them to shift what are called “balancing congestion” costs to load serving entities. FERC approved PJM’s tariff revision with an effective date of June 1. Suppliers have indicated that they intend to pass through these charges. Suppliers include a…

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What Does an Extended Cold Spell Look Like?

This is a follow up to our blog posted Monday evening titled “What Does a Cold Day Look Like?” and looks at the impact on real-time wholesale electricity pricing of extended cold weather. We reported that as a result of Winter Storm Hercules barreling through the Mid-West, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast last Thursday and Friday (January…

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What Does a Cold Day Look Like?

In previous blog posts, we have examined how weather and other events affect electricity prices. What Does a Superstorm (Sandy) Look Like? 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 electricity prices in the PJM Interconnection…

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