In Hot, Muggy Texas, Power Prices Spiked Above $920 a Megawatt

(Bloomberg) -- Power prices in Texas jumped more than 25-fold Tuesday afternoon as hot, humid weather fueled demand faster than expected.

Across the region overseen by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, power briefly spiked to $920.48 a megawatt-hour at about 12:30 p.m. local time, then fell to the $30s and $40s in most regions, Genscape analyst Jeffrey Thibodeau said.

“It’s a lot warmer and muggier than we had forecast,” Thibodeau said in an interview. “There’s a lot of load to the upside, and wind power is missing targets.” Demand is likely to taper off as rainstorms reduce need for air conditioning in the afternoon and evening, he said.

Dallas was forecast to reach a high of 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius), and Houston up to 89 degrees as thunderstorms approached, according to the National Weather Service.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Joe Ryan, Will Wade

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.