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September wholesale natural-gas contracts ended down $0.006 Monday as a mix of factors affecting the market balanced out price movements. The wholesale contract traded as low as $3.855/MMBtu before the session opened, but rallied higher as buyers decided to override the financial markets melting down yesterday. In the financial markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 634.76 points, or 5.55%, to 10,809.85, falling beneath 11,000 for the first time since November and adding to last week's steep losses. The blue-chip measure ended exactly on session lows in the biggest single-day point loss since Dec. 1, 2008. It was the index's sixth-biggest point drop in its history. While, moderating temperatures in the Northeast weighed on natural gas prices as demand is weakening while temperatures in the Texas region continue to break records on a daily basis.
In the lone star state, Texans consumed more electricity in one week than ever before last week, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, and it appears that this week will be another demanding time for the state's largest bulk transmission grid. ERCOT, which manages a grid for 75 percent of the state, did not issue an energy emergency alert yesterday as it did four days last week. Last Monday when demand peaked at 66,844 megawatt between 4 and 5 p.m, previously Monday's peak was the fifth highest in ERCOT history. Last week the ERCOT grid started with a peak demand on Monday, a record, and reached another record of 68,295 megawatts on Wednesday. Before last week, the record was 65,776 MW on Aug. 23, 2010. ERCOT officials have urged Texans to conserve electricity, especially during the peak demand hours of 3 to 7 p.m. Last weekend demand fell to 63,167 MW on Saturday and 62,715 MW on Sunday.
On operational side of the ERCOT grid, ERCOT stated on the record it only has peak capacity of 73,000 megawatts this time of year, and about 3,000 megawatts is offline for repairs at any given time. On Thursday, the excess operating reserves were minimal with demand for electricity almost reaching a record which was set on Wednesday, with 5,000 megawatts of power off-line. ERCOT had to order a small group of industrial and commercial customers to shut down power to avoid rotating outages across its far-flung system. An ERCOT spokesperson, said operating reserves were down to 1,375 megawatts at its lowest point this summer. When the margin of error is that close, ERCOT officials are looking for every megawatt available. The spokesperson said Monday that recently installed coastal wind farms as opposed to the larger West Texas wind generation provided crucial power at just the right time. In West Texas, the winds tend to die down on summer afternoons, a common criticism of wind generation while coastal breezes track the rising demand for electricity during the afternoon. Wind generation contributed as much as 2,000 megawatts according to ERCOT. Coastal wind accounts for about 13 percent of ERCOT's wind generation, but it was providing as much as 70 percent of wind generation last week.
In the peach state this week, the Georgia PSC approved several waiver requests to allow SCANA Energy to offer a prepaid product for natural gas service in the AGL Service territory as reported in Energy Choice. Under Scana’s Energy prepay program (Pay and Go Plan), it will offer certain consumers who do not meet prevailing credit requirements for fixed or variable rate plan products the opportunity to join the prepaid billing plan. Scana's Energy will notify customers that they could be shut-off for non-payment within 25 days of the date the bill is mailed if they do not pay.
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