Frigid U.S. Weather Means Highest Power Prices Since ’08

There's some truth to the idea that the worst has passed once the mainstream media picks up on a story.

The impact of scarce stores of natural gas (I'm guessing far less so for coal) will continue - perhaps for many months and especially if the exceptionally cold winter is followed by an exceptionally warm summer, but ... the price of gas at the hub relevant to Ontario (Dawn) has dropped steeply the past couple of days.

Frigid U.S. Weather Means Highest Power Prices Since ’08: Energy - Bloomberg:

Freezing temperatures gripping the eastern U.S. will result in the highest electricity prices in six years for consumers in Boston, Dallas and San Francisco.

Supplies of natural gas and coal will decline to six-year lows by the end of this month, government data show. The fuels are used to generate 67 percent of the country’s electricity. Wholesale power for use from April through June in New England traded at an average of $62.15 a megawatt-hour yesterday, 26 percent more than a year earlier and the highest for the period since 2008, according to IntercontinentalExchange and broker data compiled by Bloomberg.

Continue reading at Bloomberg


It's likely the worst has passed in Ontario.  U.S. supply problems aren't going to be due to natural gas pricing, but generating, and distribution system, capacity.

Discussion now might turn to how regions (New England, Ontario, particularly) forgot diversity in supply was a matter of energy security and economic policy/affordability.