The Union Leader has an update:
Cold weather is straining the New England power grid, as demand for electricity on Tuesday was expected to break the winter record for 2013 set in January.
Peak demand was expected to reach 21,400 megawatts Tuesday night, compared to the previous winter peak for the year of 20,887 on a frigid Jan. 24, according to ISO-NE, the independent system operator.
The all-time winter record was set on Jan. 15, 2004, when peak demand hit 22,818 megawatts.
At one point during the day on Tuesday, ISO-NE asked for a delay in routine maintenance or testing that could affect power generation or transmission on the grid.
On Saturday, grid operators had to implement more drastic measures, using emergency reserves and buying power from the New York ISO for several hours in the late afternoon and early evening, according to ISO-NE spokeswoman Ellen Foley.
Peak use on Saturday hit 20,180 megawatts, lower than Monday and Tuesday, but 630 megawatts more than the ISO-NE forecast for that date, prompting severe conditions in the ISO control room and a temporary spike in electricity prices on the spot market.
Foley speculated that the high demand on Saturday was due at least in part to the pending snowstorm, which kept many people — who would otherwise be out and about — at home using electricity.
The price for one megawatt hour of electricity in the real-time power market hit $1,000 at one point early Saturday evening, compared to a 12-month average of $36 in 2012.
Fortunately for consumers, utilities that provide electricity for residential use purchase long-term contracts for electricity and do not rely on the spot market.
The peak for Tuesday on the spot market was just over $340 per megawatt hour, as of 3 p.m.
