[copious.abundance]

>>> Ze link <<<
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')UGUST 13, 2009
Electricity Prices Plummet
BY REBECCA SMITH

Slack demand for electricity across the U.S. is leading to some of the sharpest reductions in power prices in recent years, offering a break for consumers and businesses who just a year ago were getting crunched by massive electricity bills.

On Friday, the nation's largest wholesale power market serving parts of 13 states east of the Rockies is expected to report that electricity demand fell 4.4% in the first half of the year. That helped to push down spot market prices by 40% during the first half of this year.

[...]

[AirlinePilot]

EIA's data and forecast isn't quite what I'd call "Plummeting"

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nSTO-vZpSgc/S ... trical.png

[copious.abundance]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AirlinePilot', 'E')IA's data and forecast isn't quite what I'd call "Plummeting"

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nSTO-vZpSgc/S ... trical.png

[Tyler_JC]

The drop has been very substantial, no doubt, but electricity is a notoriously volatile commodity.



Spot Electricity is priced at the margins. Natural Gas provides that marginal power. Thus, natural gas prices heavily influence electricity prices.

NG prices have collapsed since last summer from $13 to $4. That examples much of electricity's drop.

[AirlinePilot]

Your article talked about "slack demand".

4% is not a big deal, its strictly due to the recession which you claim is over. If it isn't that then what is causing this demand drop?

That "slack demand" should completely dissapear shortly since you believe the recession is already over. We will see young Paduan, we will see.

[eastbay]

Just to be clear: Electricity prices 'have plummeted'. They're not 'plummeting'.

This is normal boom and bust for electricity prices. Interesting, yes, but nothing new or unusual about it.

BTW, our electric charges are about the same this year as last. No 'plummeting' around these parts.

[biofuel13]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', '&')gt;>> Ze link <<<
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')UGUST 13, 2009
Electricity Prices Plummet
BY REBECCA SMITH

Slack demand for electricity across the U.S. is leading to some of the sharpest reductions in power prices in recent years, offering a break for consumers and businesses who just a year ago were getting crunched by massive electricity bills.

On Friday, the nation's largest wholesale power market serving parts of 13 states east of the Rockies is expected to report that electricity demand fell 4.4% in the first half of the year. That helped to push down spot market prices by 40% during the first half of this year.

[...]

[Arsenal]

I believe part of it has to do with the cooler than normal weather "we" are getting. "We" being the northeast. 60F is the norm this summer with a three or four days of high 80's. I have yet to turn on my AC compared to last year when it was constantly running. Less demand = Lower prices.

Just a theory.

[aahala2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AirlinePilot', 'Y')our article talked about "slack demand". 4% is not a big deal,

[Pops]

Yea, that's not all that plummeted:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he first quarter of 2009, which last month had been estimated as declining at a 5.5% annual rate [of GDP], now shows an even worse 6.4% decline due to the benchmark revisions.

[dinopello]

A prediction that came true !

Industrial power usage plummeted with recession

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')lectricity sales to industrial customers are expected to shrink 6.4 percent this year, leading to an expected 1.7 percent drop in overall power consumption in 2009, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its most recent outlook.

[Roy]

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=2152

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')uke, Entergy Profits Drop as Power Demand Declines

From Bloomberg

Duke Energy Corp. led U.S. utility owners in reporting declines in second-quarter earnings after the recession sapped demand for power to run factories.

Duke’s profit dropped 21 percent to $276 million, according to a statement today by the Charlotte, North Carolina-based owner of utilities in the East and Midwest. New Orleans-based Entergy, the second-largest U.S. producer of nuclear power, said its net income fell 16 percent to $226.8 million. Progress Energy Inc., Consolidated Edison Inc. and Allegheny Energy Inc. also reported declines in earnings, and PPL Corp. posted a loss.

“Demand seems to be flattening out, and we don’t expect to see a strong rebound for probably another year and a half,” Duke Chief Executive Officer Jim Rogers said in a telephone interview. “I think the recovery will be pretty anemic, and it might be as late as 2011 before we see a full rebound.”

[retiredguy]

We just had the coolest July on record. So has much of the upper Midwest and NE.

I've run the A/C just twice this entire summer. Not once in July. And as a northern guy, I have a low tolerance of heat.

Summer seems to be here, now. Let's see what electricity usage looks like in August.

BTW. Our utility company is asking for a rate increase to cover there losses this summer.

[Starvid]

This kind of volatility kills new investment in power infrastructure by all but the best capitalised players, which is why you should have regulated power prices. Volatility creates risk, which pushes up interest rates on the debt for these projects, which means that not only does power become more expensive as the bankers take a bigger cut, but the generation mixed is skewed away from capital intensive plants (wind, nuclear) to cheap plants with high fuel costs, like gas, which also increase power prices for consumers in the long run.

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('retiredguy', 'B')TW. Our utility company is asking for a rate increase to cover there losses this summer.

[dohboi]

I'm with you on this one, star. Hyper-capitalism has pretty well ruined the country.

Even trying to get the tiniest increment of health car reform has met with raving lunatics howling in the streets about communist take over. Truly sad and pathetic.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')lectricity Prices Plummet

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')lectricity Prices Plummet

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', 'M')aybe you're using more electricity?

[aahala2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')lectricity Prices Plummet