Houston (Platts)--9Jun2014/242 pm EDT/1842 GMT

The amount of electricity generated from coal in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas rose in May, retaking the lead from natural gas, according to data released by the grid operator.

ERCOT's 2014 Demand and Energy by Month report released Friday shows energy consumption across the regional transmission organization's footprint totaled 27.33 million MWh in May, down 0.3% from 27.42 million MWh in May 2013.

National Weather Service data shows that Austin, which lies near the center of ERCOT's footprint, had 43.48% fewer heating-degree days in May that it did in May 2013.

Day-ahead prices are above where they were last year at this time, but have fallen since April.

Coal-fired facilities generated 39.2% of the energy needed in May, up from 37% in April and 36.9% in May 2013. Coal has been the lead fuel source in ERCOT in 2014, with the exception of April when natural gas took the lead.

Gas-fired plants provided 38.5% of the power consumed in ERCOT in May, down slightly from 38.9% in April and up from 35.7% in May 2013. Houston Ship Channel natural gas prices averaged $4.463/MMBtu in May.

Nuclear plants provided 10.2% of the electricity consumed in May, a jump from 7.9% in April, but down from 13.2% in May 2013.

Wind farms provided 11.8% of the energy consumed in May, down from 15% in April and 13.5% in May 2013.

Other sources provided 0.3% of May's energy, down 1.3% from n April and 0.8% from May 2013.

ERCOT's peak demand last month was 52,615 MW, reached on May 30, 6.4% below the year-ago peak of 56,209 MW that occurred on May 31.

---Kassia Micek, kassia.micek@platts.com
--Edited by Jeff Barber, jeff.barber@platts.com

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