Texas regulator to revise ERCOT scarcity pricing to avoid ‘absurd results’

摘要

The Public Utility Commission of Texas on April 7 initiated a revision to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ scarcity pricing rule to ensure that a “circuit breaker” change in the systemwide offer cap, designed to avoid harming consumers, does not create what the chairman called “absurd results.” At issue is the switch from ERCOT's $9,000/MWh “High Systemwide Offer Cap,” or HCAP, to the “Low Systemwide Offer Cap,” known as LCAP, which is the higher of either $2,000/MWh or 50 times a fuel index price chosen by the grid operator. ERCOT has set that FIP as the spot natural gas price at the Katy Hub, as determined by Argus.