Electricity Monthly Update
Regional Wholesale Markets: October 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 on the low end of the yearly range at all selected trading hubs as typical mild, fall shoulder-season weather set in across the country. Wholesale electricity prices remained below $60/MWh at all hubs east of the Rocky Mountains during the month. In the western United States, high prices for the month ranged between $62/MWh in Southern California (CAISO) and $87/MWh in the Northwest (Mid-C). Wholesale natural gas prices remained below $3/MMBtu at all selected trading hubs east of the Rocky Mountains during the month. Prices were slightly higher in the West, hitting $3.45/MMBtu in Southern California (SoCal Border), $3.71/MMBtu in the Northwest (Sumas), and $4.67/MMBtu in Northern California (PG&E Citygate).
Electricity system daily peak demand
Electricity system daily peak demand remained on the low end of the 12-month range on most selected electricity systems during the shoulder-season month of October. This is typically a time when market participants take advantage of the lower demand period after the summer to perform maintenance on systems before the winter season arrives. In October, the peak demand day on each system fell 5-20% from the peak demand day in September. In Progress Florida, already low seasonal demand was impacted further by the arrival of Hurricane Milton, setting a new 12-month low demand on October 10.