New England’s power markets were competitive in 2018, study says

ISO New England released the 2018 Annual Markets Report, which said that New England’s wholesale power markets were competitive in 2018.

The report states that the total cost of wholesale electricity markets was $12.1 billion in New England in 2018, which represents an increase of about 32 percent over 2017.

It also found that energy costs rose 34 percent to $6 billion last year. The increase was driven primarily by higher natural gas prices, particularly during the winter months. Higher power demand during a hot and humid summer also contributed to higher costs.

The report also found that capacity costs rose by about $1.4 billion to $3.6 billion. The increase is primarily due to higher clearing prices in the eighth and ninth Forward Capacity Auctions after a spate of generator retirements. However, it also found that capacity costs will begin to decline after June 2019, spurred by the entry of new resources and a higher capacity surplus.

Among the other findings, regional network load costs were $2.3 billion to pay for the use of transmission facilities and other services. Finally, the costs for reliability services such as operating reserve, regulation, and net commitment period compensation, totaled about $200 million in 2018.