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LCG Publishes 2024 Annual Outlook for Texas Electricity Market (ERCOT)

LCG, October 10, 2023 – LCG Consulting (LCG) has released its annual outlook of the ERCOT wholesale electricity market for 2024, based on the most likely weather, market, transmission, and generator conditions.

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LCG Publishes 2024 Annual Outlook for Texas Electricity Market (ERCOT)

LCG, October 10, 2023 – LCG Consulting (LCG) has released its annual outlook of the ERCOT wholesale electricity market for 2024, based on the most likely weather, market, transmission, and generator conditions.

Read more

Industry News

California Capsule: Everyone will Pay More for Power

LCG, March 9, 2001Despite declarations by California Gov. Gray Davis that the tens of billions of dollars he is committing to the state's energy problems will be absorbed "within the existing rate structure," citizens and businesses are likely to be paying close to 20 percent more for electricity, and maybe more than that.

For one thing, that existing rate structure now includes a 9 percent rate increase approved last month by the California Public Utilities Commission. On top of that, the 10 percent rate cut for residential and small commercial customers that came along with deregulation will disappear after the first of the year. That adds up to 19 percent, and it may not be enough.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides said yesterday that the $10 billion bond issue that will finance power purchases by the California Department of Water Resources is contingent upon the state collecting sufficient revenue from customers' electric bills. The PUC on Wednesday gave the water agency authority to demand rates that would meet those "revenue requirements."

Chris Danforth, a supervisor in the PUC's Ratepayer Advocate office, said additional rate increases were likely if the long-term power contracts announced earlier this week by Davis were higher than the widely circulated figure of $69 per megawatt-hour. They were.

For the first five years, the contracts have an average price of $79 per megawatt-hour.

But there is better news from the high-tech capital of the world.

  • The Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, whose members include Intel Corp., IBM, Cisco Systems Inc. and every other high-tech company you can think of, voted yesterday to support a 600 megawatt power plant proposed by Calpine Corp. for a rural area on the southeast side of San Jose. Cisco, which plans to build a facility for 20,000 employees near the plant site, has fought the proposal tooth and nail because it wouldn't look nice near the company's new "campus." Because Cisco is the city's largest employer, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and the City Council have also opposed the powerhouse. It is, however, supported by the Sierra Club, the American Lung Association and all of the other environmental groups. Karl Stahlkopf, a vice president of Palo Alto-based Electric Power Research Institute, said the vote "gives a clear signal from the economic leaders of California that they're willing to have something in their back yard."

  • Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said yesterday it has lined up enough natural gas to get its 3.9 million gas customers through the month. Stacie Homrig, a spokeswoman for the utility, said the company would also begin refilling its empty storage facilities, which were drained because PG&E had to use its reserves when several suppliers quit selling it gas for fear of not being paid. Homrig said gas has not yet been arranged for April, but usage drops off markedly with warm spring weather.

  • Sunlaw Energy Partners formally withdrew its application to build the 550 megawatt Nueva Azalea power plant in South Gate yesterday, and President Wayne Gould expressed his frustration at a news conference held in the company's headquarters in Vernon. "I am incredibly disappointed with the voters of South Gate," he said. "Either our message was not received, not understood or not accepted." He pointed out that Nueva Azalea "would have provided lower cost electricity for local residents, created local union jobs and paid the city $8 million annually in new taxes and fees."

  • Black Hills Energy Capital, an affiliate of Black Hills Power Co. which serves western South Dakota, northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana, said yesterday it has begun expanding the output of a power plant it owns near Long Beach. The 30 megawatt upgrade will increase the capacity of the Harbor facility from 80 megawatts to 110 megawatts and be ready for this summer's high demand.

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