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The November wholesale exchange contract was up $0.159 on Friday as energy traders were busy scrambling for wholesale contracts due to the colder than normal weather that hit the Northeast coast this weekend. The cold weather could be felt all along the East coast on Friday and the natural gas market finally acted accordingly. However, 6 to 10 day forecast still calls for normal temperatures for this time of year for the entire nation. Even worse, the 11 to 15 day forecast continues to call for above average temperatures for the entire country as well. Over the weekend, however, the unseasonably early nor'easter had utility companies struggling to restore electricity to millions of homes and businesses. By late Sunday, the number of outages had dipped to below three million and continued falling, but officials in some states warned that it could be days or even a week before residents have power again. The storm smashed record snowfall totals for October and worsened as it moved north. Communities in western Massachusetts were among the hardest hit. Snowfall totals topped 27 inches in Plainfield, and nearby Windsor, Connecticut got 26 inches. But in New Hampshire's capital of Concord, more than 22 inches fell, weeks ahead of the usual first measurable snowfall. New Jersey's largest electric and gas utility, PSE&G, warned customers to prepare for "potentially lengthy outages" and advised power might not be fully restored until Wednesday. More than 612,000 lost electricity in the state, including Gov. Chris Christie. October snowfall is rare in New York, and Saturday marked just the fourth October day with measurable snowfall in Central Park since record-keeping began 135 years ago according to the National Weather Service.
In the garden state of New Jersey this weekend, Crews from Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) and other FirstEnergy utilities continue to restore service and assess the damage caused by the heavy, wet snow that covered parts of its northern New Jersey service area this weekend. As of early Sunday evening, the company has restored service to more than 85,000 customers, with 275,000 still without power. The affected counties include Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren. Downed trees and branches and impassable roads have hampered restoration efforts. "Based on the best available assessment information we have, we anticipate that 95 percent of our customers will be restored by Thursday, with the remainder restored by Friday," said JCP&L President Donald M. Lynch. "Today we have more than 3,000 line, support and forestry personnel working around-the-clock to restore service." Lynch adds that the company is working to determine estimated restoration times by county today and expects to be able to provide restoration times by city on Monday. Information will be shared with local officials and customers as soon as it is available. FirstEnergy has mobilized additional internal crews and support personnel to assist with possible power outages in New Jersey, and is working to secure outside utility crews, electrical contractors and tree contractors to assist with the restoration process.
Stream Energy, recently donated $10,000 to the Utility Emergency Services Fund (UESF), a non-profit which supports low-income families in Philadelphia. The donation was presented to UESF as part of a Stream Energy event at the Philadelphia Convention Center which drew a crowd of over 3,000 attendees. Utility costs consume a huge portion of the low incomes of poor families in Philadelphia. With the support of Stream Energy, the Utility Emergency Services Fund (UESF) is able to provide needed utility assistance to these families that are struggling during these tough economic times," said John Rowe, the executive director of UESF. This utility assistance impacts not only the utility security of vulnerable families; it also deeply affects other crucial areas such as housing stabilization, children's health, and the prevention of homelessness.
On the wholesale front over the weekend, the number of rigs drilling for natural gas in the United States rose by seven this week to 934, the fifth gain in seven weeks, data from oil services firm Baker Hughes showed on Friday. Horizontal rigs, the type most often used to extract oil or gas from shale, gained 13 to a record high 1,155, eclipsing the previous record of 1,153 hit two weeks ago.
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