Southeast Power Tracker: Cold weather strengthens gas, power prices

摘要

Substantially cooler temperatures drove up power demand, and naturalgas prices boosted Southeast wholesale power indexes in December2020 on the year. A milder weather and worsening pandemicconditions may weaken power prices going forward.Day-ahead on-peak power indexes averaged in the high $20s/MWhacross most of the south and in the mid $30s/MWh in Florida thisDecember, according to S&P Global Platts day-ahead Bilateral Indexes.These were up from November 2020's mid-$20s/MWh and the low-$30s/MWh, respectively. In December 2019, Florida power indexesaveraged near $26/MWh while the averages were in the mid- to low-$20s/MWh elsewhere in the Southeast.