U.S. West power prices tumble with lower natgas

HOUSTON, July 18 (Reuters) - Electricity prices for Monday
delivery in the U.S. West dropped as fuel costs tumbled to the
lowest level in seven weeks.

Monday power in the Palo Verde Hub fell the most, dropping
nearly $5 to an average of $95 per megawatt-hour, as
temperatures in the region that were much-above normal this
week are forecast to be below normal on Monday before rising on
Tuesday.

Mid-Columbia power in the Pacific Northwest eased $4 to $78
per MWh.

South Path-15 in Southern California slipped about $2 to
$100 per MWh as did North Path-15 power, according to the
IntercontinentalExchange. EL-N <0#WEST-P-IDX>.

For complete outage data see [OUTAGES/] for power plants
and [TOUTAGES/] for power lines.

All of the following data is for peak days:
DAY-AHEAD PRICES EL-N
REGION TODAY 1-DAY AGO 2-DAY AGO WK AGO YR AGO
Mid-C $74-84 $80-84 $88-96 $82 $57
NP-15 $98-103 $99-105 $105-111 $110 $66
Palo Verde $93-99 $97-103 $96-104 $100 $71
SP-15 $95-104 $99-105 $105-111 $111 $70
HISTORIC AVERAGE MONTHLY PRICES
REGION LAST JULY 5-YR JULY AVG
SP-15 $80 $75
Mid-C $65 $60
LOAD/OUTAGE/TEMPERATURE DATA

THUR FRI MON TUE
LOAD (MW)
Cal ISO 40,538 38,700 40,600 41,500
WECC NW 50,645 48,680
WECC RM/DSW 37,620 38,450
WECC Cal/MX 52,400 52,300
OUTAGES (MW)
Cal ISO 3,270
WECC NW 8,700 6,180
WECC RM/DSW 1,000 1,350
WECC Cal/MX 4,500 3,500
ACCUWEATHER.COM TEMPERATURE FORECASTS (F)

THUR FRI MON TUE WED
LOS ANGELES 87/66 81/66 87/65 81/62 81/64
SACRAMENTO 92/56 95/57 90/57 92/58 90/59
RIVERSIDE 95/63 95/65 94/64 92/62 92/61
SEATTLE 76/54 72/53 76/56 75/55 75/53
PHOENIX 110/88 111/89 101/87 106/85 105/86
Los Angeles July Normal High/Low - 84/65
Sacramento July Normal High/Low - 93/58
Riverside July Normal High/Low - 95/62
Seattle July Normal High/Low - 76/55
Phoenix July Normal High/Low - 106/82
SPOT NATURAL GAS PRICES
PIPELINE TODAY 1-DAY AGO 2-DAY AGO
So Cal Border (mmBtu) $9.52 $10.44 $10.47
Heat Rate in SP-15 10,000 9,750 10,350
PG&E Citygate (mmBtu) $9.93 $10.66 $10.68
Heat Rate in NP-15 10,000 9,550 10,150

NOTE: The average heat rate for gas plants in the United
States is about 8,600 Btu/kilowatt-hour, while the most
efficient, least expensive to operate combined-cycle units have
heat rates below 7,000.

Natural gas is the primary fuel for about 55 percent of the
power plants in California, about 47 percent of the units in
the Desert Southwest and Rocky Mountains and about 12 percent
in Pacific Northwest.
RELATED LINKS
-North American Electricity Speed Guide ..... USPOWER
-North American Power News ... [ELN]
-Top North American Power/Natural Gas News .. [TOP/ELN]
-North American Northeast/Midwest Power Report [ELN/N]
-North American Texas/Southeast Power Report . [ELN/M]
-North American Western Power Report ......... [ELN/W]
-North American OTC Electricity Price Table .. EL-N
-U.S. ICE Electricity Price Tables ......... <0#POWER-IDX=ICE>
-North American Power Plant Outage Table ..... [OUTAGES/]
-North American Power Transmission Table ..... [TOUTAGES/]
-U.S. Nuclear Power Reactor Outage Table ..... [NUKE/]
-U.S. Nuclear Outage Data ..... <0#USEL-OUTAGE>
-U.S. EEI Electricity Output Report .......... [EEI/]
-U.S. EEI Electricity Output Table ........... EEI-
-U.S. Spot Gas Report ......... [NGA/US]
-Canadian Spot Natural Gas Market Report ..... [NGA/CAN]
-NYMEX Electricity Futures .... <0#USELEC/FUT>
-NYMEX Gas Futures Report ..... [NGA/]
-NYMEX Uranium (U3O8) Futures Prices ......... <0#UXX:>
-U.S. OTC Spot Gas Prices ..... <0#NG-US>
-U.S. ICE Gas Price Tables .... <0#GAS-IDX=ICE>
-U.S. BTU Spot Natural Gas Prices ............ <0#NG-BTU>
-NYMEX Gas Futures Prices ..... <0#NG:>
-North American OTC Fuel Oil Table ........... PPYF
-NYMEX Crude Oil Futures Prices ...............<0#CL:>
-U.S. Spot Gas versus Oil Table .............. PPIN
-U.S. OTC Coal Prices ......... <0#USCOAL>
-U.S. Coal Report ............. <COAL/US>
-U.S. Northwest River Forecast - NWRFC ....... [NWRFC]
-Oil News ...... [O]
-Utility News .. [ELG]
-Coal News ..... [COA]
-Natural Gas News ............. [NGS]
-Nuclear News .. [NUC]
-Environmental News ........... [ENV]
-Renewable Energy News ........ [RNW]
-Carbon Dioxide/Greenhouse Gas News .......... [CO2]
-Residual Oil News ............ [RFO]
-Weather News .. [WEA]
-Energy Speed Guide ........... ENERGY
-Electricity Speed Guide ...... ELECTRICITY
-Natural Gas Speed Guide ...... NATGAS
-Coal Speed Guide ............. COAL
-Emissions Speed Guide ........ EMISSIONS
-Carbon Speed Guide ........... CARBON
-Weather Speed Guide .......... WEATHER
(Reporting by Eileen O'Grady; Editing by Andre Grenon)