US power demand hits hourly record high on hottest day of summer, EIA and LSEG say
Adds details and power prices
By Scott DiSavino
July 16 (Reuters) -U.S. demand for power hit a preliminary hourly record high on Monday as homes and businesses cranked up their air conditioners to escape a brutal heat wave blanketing most of the Lower 48 states on the hottest day so far this summer.
Extreme weather reminds consumers of the fatal freeze in February 2021 that left millions of Texans without power, water and heat for days and a brutal heat wave in August 2020 that forced the California power grid operator to impose rotating outages that affected about 800,000 customers over two days.
Power demand on Monday peakedat a preliminary 743,995 megawatts (MW) around 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT), which would top the current all-time high of 742,704 MW set on July 20, 2022, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) going back to 2016.
Temperatures across the country averaged around 82.1 degrees Fahrenheit (27.8 Celsius) on Monday, the most since averaging 82.2 F on July 27, 2023, according to data from financial firm LSEG going back to 2018. That compares with a record average of 83.0 F on July 20, 2022.
High temperatures in the biggest cities across the U.S. hit 91 F in New York, 83 F in Los Angeles, 91 F in Chicago, 95 F in Houston and 109 F in Phoenix, according to meteorologists at AccuWeather.
On Tuesday, AccuWeather forecast the mercury would reach 97 F in New York, 83 F in Los Angeles, 80 F in Chicago, 95 F in Houston and 110 F in Phoenix.
With even hotter weather expected in the U.S. Northeast on Tuesday, next-day power prices in New England EL-PK-NPMS-SNL and the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland region EL-PK-PJMW-SNL soared by over 150% to their highest levels since January, according to pricing data on the LSEG terminal.
Electric grid operators across the country declared hot weather alerts over the past week and told energy companies to put off unnecessary maintenance so all available generating plants and power lines would be ready for service.
But despite the extreme heat, grid operators have not taken more extreme actions to manage supply and demand - like calls for conservation or rotating outages - and none were currently projecting power use would break all-time highs.
Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Franklin Paul
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
