Dive Brief:
- Electricity prices in New England could be volatile this winter, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Thursday when it unveiled its Winter 2013-2014 Energy Market Assessment.
- The reason is that power prices in the region closely track natural gas prices and the gas distribution system has ongoing pipeline constraints.
- For the rest of the nation, "market conditions going into the winter are generally positive for natural gas and electricity markets," FERC said.
Dive Insight:
Power prices in New England also spiked at times last winter, FERC said, because natural gas is the "marginal price-setting fuel during most hours of generation." The region still suffers from a lack of adequate transmission that could help ameliorate wild swings in power prices.
