Author: Mark Watson
Houston — Texas regulators March 3 ordered the resumption of a scarcity-pricing rule that changes the Electric Reliability Council of Texas systemwide offer cap from $9,000/MWh to the higher of either $2,000/MWh or 50 times a natural gas fuel index price.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas convened virtually the evening of Feb. 15 and suspended the “circuit-breaker” pricing mechanism that would change the systemwide cap from $9,000/MWh to the greater of $2,000/MWh or 50 times the natural gas price index, when the peaker net margin threshold of $315,000 is reached.
The fuel index price ERCOT currently uses is at the Katy, Texas, location, where S&P Global Platts assessed it at …