US East Coast blizzard knocks out power, cold weather boosts power prices, demand

A quickly developing snowstorm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers along the US East Coast Jan. 3, while much lower temperatures increased power demand and prices in New York and New England.

"As the storm strengthens and the precipitation moves northward into progressively colder air, rain will change over to snow in Baltimore and Washington, DC, and snow will begin to fall in Philadelphia," AccuWeather Meteorologist Ryan Adamson said in a Jan. 3 report.

Blizzard conditions had developed in Washington and surrounding areas by the morning of Jan. 3, with as much as 14.6 inches of snow reported in Glendie, Virginia and 13 inches in Dunkirk, Maryland, according to the National Weather Service.

There were 436,904 power outages in Virginia by early afternoon, 143,842 outages in North Carolina and 70,656 outages in Maryland according to PowerOutage.us, which aggregates power outage data.

Nearly a million regional customers in total were without power.

PJM Interconnection power prices remained in the normal range as of around 3pm Eastern Standard Time with locational marginal prices ranging from around $34/MWh to $39/MWh, according to the grid operator's website.

Northeast power demand, prices

Temperatures dropped significantly heading into Jan. 3 in New York and New England, falling from around mid-40 degrees Fahrenheit to a high of 28 degrees F in the New York City region and Boston, according to National Weather Service data.

The cooler temperatures increased power demand and power prices with real-time prices reaching $200/MWh in New York System Operator Zone K Long Island around 3:30 pm ET and New York City Zone J prices hitting $98.53/MWh.

ISO New England power prices also pushed higher on the cooler weather, with real-time Mass Hub prices at roughly $165/MWh around 3pm. Earlier in the day, real-time ISO-NE power prices had reached as high as $180/MWh, according to the grid operator's website.

However, temperatures were forecast to increase slightly moving further into the week, resulting in lower peak power demand levels in New York and New England. The lower forecast power demand appears to be limiting power price upside.

Mass Hub on-peak balance of the week is bid at $67/MWh and offered at $89/MWh, compared to the on-peak day-ahead package trading in the mid-$80s/MWh for Jan. 4 delivery on the Intercontinental Exchange.

NYISO Zone G on-peak next week was bid at $75/MWh and offered at $110/MWh on ICE, with off-peak bid at $60/MWh and offered at $120/MWh.

After a Jan. 4 NYISO peak load forecast of 20,584 MW, peak load for the rest of the week is expected at lower levels, according to the grid operator. NYSIO Peak load for Jan. 7 is forecast to reach 20,550.

Similarly, ISO-NE peak load is forecast to reach 18,460 MW on Jan. 3, before falling back slightly to 17,570 MW on Jan. 4 and 16,600 MW on Jan. 5.

Temperatures in Boston could reach 50 degrees F on Jan. 5, according to the National Weather Service.