Power prices in the West posted losses

Power prices in the West posted losses

Energy Market Report - 10/8/04

Power prices in the West posted losses for Tuesday’s delivery, largely due to the significant drop-off in spot natural gas prices. On NYMEX, natural gas futures lost some ground. The November contract settled 9.2 cents lower to finish at 7.163$/mmBtu. While the December contract ended 2.2 cents lower to settle at 8.275$/mmBtu. Other contracts were mixed, with some contracts gaining up to 0.8 cent/mmBtu, while the majority of contracts lost ground, divesting up to 4.8 cents/mmBtu.

The Golden State saw power prices take a hit on Friday as spot natural gas swooned. At COB, heavy-load power was bought and sold from 43.75 to 46.50$/MWh, while the light-load piece was exchanged from 33.75 to 34.25$/MWh. At NP-15, peak power was traded from 48 to 53.25$/MWh, while the off-peak block was bartered from 34.25 to 35.75$/MWh. SP-15 saw heavy-load power going from 47.50 to 51.75$/MWh, while the light-load block traded hands from 30.50 to 32.25$/MWh. In unit news, there were no new unit outages to report. However Helms #3 (404 MW) did power up, nearing 100 percent of capacity. In transmission news, there is one point on the PDCI that will be curtailed to 0 MW of capacity at two different dates: it will be curtailed from HE 11:00 to HE 13:00 on the 13th of October at the Sickler - Schultz # 1 500kV Line Sycan Series Caps Groups 1, 2, & 3 and Celilo - Sylmar 1000kV DC Line Poles 3 & 4. It will also be shut down from HE 09:00 to HE 16:00 on the 14th of October. In local news, PG&E crews returned from Florida on Thursday. 131 PG&E employees were sent to help local Florida Power and Light crews turn power back on in the state of Florida. Local forecasts have predicted Fresno seeing slight warming on Tuesday as temperatures head for the upper 80s. Los Angeles should see temperatures move into the mid 70s on Tuesday and Sacramento should see temperature in the upper 80s. San Francisco should see slight cooling as temperatures reach into the lower 70s. The extended forecast predicted the Golden State to be at above-normal temperature levels from October 14 to 18.

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