Spark spread reasserts dominance

摘要

Low gas prices are now having the affect that high carbon prices failed to achieve, by reducing coal burn. Mild weather has led to low gas and heating demand in the UK. This has meant that much of the gas that went into storage to cover the colder winter months has not been needed and there is now a significant surplus of gas supply, which has driven down prices. This has boosted the economic case of burning gas for power generation ahead of dispatching coal-fired plant. A further factor resulting from lower gas prices and low demand is that power prices have continued to soften. The weekly day-ahead power price averaged ?19.92/MWh (Spectron based) for the week ending February 23; which is 16 percent lower than the 23.84 pounds/MWh reported two weeks ago. The weekly average spot gas price (again Spectron based) is also lower at 16.55ppt, down from 23.77ppt a fortnight ago. This is roughly a quarter of what it was a year ago when February 06 averaged 63.68ppt.