Wholesale electricity prices dropped in 2015
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The ISO New England control room in Holyoke manages energy transmission throughout Massachusetts. The organization recently reported that energy prices in 2015 dipped to their lowest point in two decades.
Tracking the price of natural gas, wholesale electricity prices in New England dove in 2015 to the second lowest level in 12 years, according to the area's grid operator.
Natural gas is the predominant fuel used by power plants, responsible for about 49 percent of electricity generation last year, and gas prices for most of 2015 were at their lowest levels in two decades, ISO-New England reported on Tuesday.
While prices were low, they spiked in February 2015, the coldest month since at least 1960 in New England, to their third highest average monthly price. ISO-New England said the cold weather increased demand for natural gas for heating purposes, causing a price spike that pushed up wholesale prices that month.
The $126.7 per megawatt hour wholesale price in February 2015 compared to the lowest and second lowest average monthly power prices of $19.61 per megawatt hour in June and $21.35 per megawatt hour in December.
The average wholesale electricity price in New England in 2015 was $41 per megawatt hour, down from $63.32 in 2014. The recent low was $36.09 in 2012 and the recent high was $80.56 in 2008.
Electricity demand in New England fell by 0.2 percent in 2015.
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