Electricity Monthly Update
Regional Wholesale Markets: November 2024
The United States has many regional wholesale electricity markets. Below we look at monthly and annual ranges of on-peak, daily wholesale prices at selected pricing locations and daily peak demand for selected electricity systems in the Nation. The range of daily prices and demand data is shown for the report month and for the year ending with the report month.
Prices and demand are shown for six Regional Transmission Operator (RTO) markets: ISO New England (ISO-NE), New York ISO (NYISO), PJM Interconnection (PJM), Midwest ISO (MISO), Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and two locations in the California ISO (CAISO). Also shown are wholesale prices at trading hubs in Louisiana (into Entergy), Southwest (Palo Verde) and Northwest (Mid-Columbia). In addition to the RTO systems, peak demand is also shown for the Southern Company, Progress Florida, and the Bonneville Power Authority (BPA). Refer to the map tabs for the locations of the electricity and natural gas pricing hubs and the electric systems for which peak demand ranges are shown.
In the second tab immediately below, we show monthly and annual ranges of on-peak, daily wholesale natural gas prices at selected pricing locations in the United States. The range of daily natural gas prices is shown for the same month and year as the electricity price range chart. Wholesale electricity prices are closely tied to wholesale natural gas prices in all but the center of the country. Therefore, one can often explain current wholesale electricity prices by looking at what is happening with natural gas prices.
Wholesale prices
Wholesale electricity and natural gas prices remained towards the bottom-end of the annual range at all selected trading hubs throughout the month of November. New England (ISONE) recorded the highest wholesale electricity price at $64.21/MWh, followed closely by Northern California (CAISO) at $63/MWh. The lowest wholesale electricity prices were found in Texas (ERCOT) at $12.50/MWh and in the Southwest (Palo Verde) at $15.50/MWh. Wholesale natural gas prices were highest in New England (Algonquin) at $4.43/MMBtu and in Northern California (PG&E Citygate) at $4.39/MMBtu. New 12-month lows were set in the Mid-Atlantic (Tetco M-3) at $1.01/MMBtu, in the Midwest (Chicago Citygates) at $1.15/MMBtu, and in Louisiana (Henry Hub) at $1.21/MMBtu.
Electricity system daily peak demand
Electricity system daily peak demand remained on the lower half of the 12-month range on all selected electricity systems during November because of mild weather across most of the country. All states east of the Rocky Mountains experienced above-average to much-above-average temperatures with all-time average warmest temperatures across the month recorded in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Maine. These warmer-than-normal temperatures during a winter month leads to lower energy usage for space-heating demand.