IOUs take action, but other overriding forces will affect prices in the near term.
Gary L. Hunt is vice president-Consulting & Advisory Service at Henwood Energy, a division of Global Energy Decisions, a provider of market, risk, and operations management software and consulting services for the electric power industry.
Jon Ecker is president of Energy Velocity, also a division of Global Energy Decisions, providing statistical and geographic data and applications for energy markets.
It's going to be a wild summer for the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), courtesy of higher than forecasted load growth, high gas prices, delays and cancellations of renewable resources, and lower than normal hydro generation. These conditions will drive faster than expected market recovery in the West (especially for merchant generators) and will increase the price volatility exposure of the municipal and investor-owned utilities that rely upon the markets to meet load.