PJM power prices rise in September from August on outages: report
The PJM Interconnection’s load-weighted average locational marginal price rose about $3 compared with the August price to $33/MWh in September, despite lighter loads and lower local fuel prices, but remained $3 less than the September 2014 average, stakeholders heard Monday.
During Monday’s Members Committee Information Webinar, Paul Sotkiewicz, PJM senior economic policy advisor, said this September’s energy use and heating- and cooling-degree days were above historic averages for September.
The report showed total energy used in PJM topped 65.1 TWh in September, down from almost 73 TWh in August, but up from a historic average of about 63.5 TWh.
This September’s combined heating- and cooling-degree days totaled about 192, compared with more than 288 in August, but up from a historic average of less than 148 heating- and cooling-degree days in September.
At the Texas Eastern M-3 natural gas hub, the day-ahead price of natural gas averaged $1.328/MMBtu in September, compared with $1.392/MMBtu in August and $2.205/MMBtu in September 2014.
Generation outages “more than likely” caused the increase in the load-weighted average LMP in September, compared with August, Sotkiewicz said.
