Natural Gas and Electricity Are Parting Ways – Part 1

In recent articles, we have explored the dramatic decline in natural gas prices over the past seven years. See These Are Days To Remember and10,000 Maniacs Were Right. In the US Mid-Atlantic, natural gas and electricity prices have, over time, tended to move together. While there has by no means been a perfect correlation between…

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Natural Gas Market Update

The above graph looks at natural gas prices going back to January 1997. Natural gas prices have retreated from the Polar Vortex bump and remain relatively low by historical standards. The prices plotted above are not adjusted for inflation. If they were in 2014 dollars, the left side of the curve would be more elevated.…

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In The News – Avalon Energy Services

Avalon Energy Services recently completed an electricity procurement project for KBS Capital Advisors’ One Washingtonian Center property in Gaithersburg, MD. Marc Deluca, Regional President of KBS, noted that “Electricity markets have exhibited extreme volatility. The folks at Avalon Energy Services have deep expertise and an unsurpassed understanding of the energy markets and how they work.…

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Capacity Factor

In a recent article in the Energy Law Journal, the authors state, By as early as 2016, installed distributed solar PV capacity in the United States could reach thirty gigawatts (GW). If that forecast is on track, distributed solar generation will have increased from less than one GW in 2010 to the equivalent of nearly…

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Real Electricity Prices (Energy Prices Always Go Up, Part 5)

This article is part of an occasional series that examines the common perception that energy prices always go up. We have examined both electricity prices (read hereand here) and natural gas prices (read hereand here). An article published recently by CNSNews.com states that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), “The price of electricity…

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Day-Ahead and Real-Time Pricing in NYISO

We recently looked at the Day-Ahead and Real-Time electricity markets in PJM. The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) also operates a two settlement process with Day-Ahead (DA) and Real-Time (RT) markets, which are the subjects of this article. First some background. The NYISO, like only two other ISOs (CalISO and ERCOT), serves only one…

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Real Energy Cost Savings

Below are the results from a sampling of reverse auctions conducted for Avalon Energy Services’ customers, including customers of varying size, over the past few months. The first graph shows the customer’s annual energy costs before competitive bidding (blue line) and after contracts were executed on accepted bids (red line). Pre-auction annual energy costs ranged…

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Day-Ahead and Real-Time Pricing During a Heat Wave

PJM operates two markets for energy, the Day-Ahead (DA) Market and the Real-Time (RT) Market. PJM’s Day-Ahead Market is a forward market in which hourly LMPs (locational marginal prices) are calculated for the next operating day based on generation offers, demand bids, and scheduled bilateral transactions. PJM’s Real-Time Market is a spot market in which…

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Energy Prices Always Go Up (Part 4)

As discussed several times previously on this blog, there is a common perception that energy prices always go up. We have examined both natural gas prices (read hereand here) and electricity prices (read here). In this post, we look again at electricity prices–specifically, how they behaved in PJM last year. PJM zonal day-ahead load weighted…

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Avalon Energy Services Completes New Energy Supply Contracts on behalf of Donohoe Real Estate Services

BETHESDA, Md., May 14, 2013 – Avalon Energy Services, the Mid-Atlantic’s leading energy consulting firm, announced today that they successfully completed an electricity procurement for 19 commercial real estate properties managed by Donohoe Real Estate Services. The properties are located in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Under the new contracts, the properties will save…

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