Dive Brief:
- Real-time power prices in the PJM Interconnection market spiked on Tuesday during a power outage that hit Washington, D.C., along with some areas of Maryland, Platts reported.
- The problem originated with a Pepco transmission line at a southern Maryland switching station, and affected almost 30,000 customers and knocked out power to some federal buildings.
Dive Insight:
When the lights went out in the White House, power prices spiked.
A power outage that left 28,000 customers in the District of Columbia and Maryland in the dark also sent real-time prices higher, Platts reported. The locational marginal price for BGE exceeded $500/MWh, and Pepco prices reached approximately $400/MWh.
According to a statement from the Washington, D.C., office of the mayor, the outage "was the result of an equipment failure in the power distribution system for Pepco."
According to a statement from Pepco, the utility experienced a "dip" in voltage shortly before 1 p.m. on April 7.
"This was caused by an issue with a transmission line," the utility said. "There was never a loss of permanent supply of electricity to customers. The dip in voltage caused equipment at some customer facilities to transfer to their backup systems."
Pepco described the outage as "momentary" and said there were no supply issues.
