Wholesale power prices in New England rose more than 10-fold for a while on Christmas Eve, apparently because an unnamed power plant stopped producing as much as expected and we couldn’t import as much electricity from New York and Canada – presumably because they needed it during the cold snap.
State Consumer Advocate Don Kreis wrote about the situation in his InDepthNH column – check it out here. ISO-New England has their own take here, including this:
Underperforming resources will be penalized at a rate of $3,500 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for failing to meet their obligation during the capacity scarcity conditions, while resources that over-performed (including resources with no obligation) will receive $3,500/MWh of additional revenue. Penalties for the Christmas Eve event are estimated to be approximately $39 million, based on initial data. Charges for underperformance are paid by the underperforming resources, not electricity ratepayers.
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Solar panels on our roofs and batteries in our basements. Its time. Works for us.
But wasn’t demand very low, due to at least 10% of NH being without power due to the storm?
Demand was certainly erratic, but cold weather raises demand from places that weren’t out of power so it’s hard to know.