California Power Prices Hit Two-Year High Ahead of Hot Weekend

(Bloomberg) -- The extreme heat forecast for much of California starting this weekend has already pushed power prices to two-year highs.

Electricity for Friday delivery in Southern California almost tripled to $147 a megawatt-hour, the highest since August 2018, according to Intercontinental Exchange Inc. data.

The state’s grid operator has asked residents to cut back on power as the heat intensifies on Friday, and asked owners of transmission lines and power plants to delay maintenance as energy use climbs to near-record levels. The California ISO expects demand in the state will peak at more than 46,000 megawatts on Friday, almost 10% higher than Thursday and shy of the 2006 record of just over 50,000 megawatts.

The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat watch from Oregon to Arizona, covering a large part of central and coastal California. Temperatures could reach into the 100s Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) across much of central California and reach into the 90s in Los Angeles. Sacramento was forecast to reach 108 on Saturday.

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