ALBANY, N.Y. — The heat wave at the end of June caused the average locational-based marginal price for the month to increase dramatically, NYISO told the Business Issues Committee on July 16.
The LBMP jumped from $36.99/MWh in May to $58.96/MWh, nearly 49% higher than that of June 2024’s $39.68.
“June 2025’s average year-to-date monthly cost of $77.60/MWh is a 90% increase from $40.78/MWh in June of 2024,” said Zachary T. Smith, newly promoted to NYISO director of market solutions. Smith’s promotion was announced as he began the presentation.
Natural gas prices were slightly lower in June, at $2.27/MMBtu compared to $2.34 in May, but they were up about 30% year-over-year.
Smith said the higher LBMPs were driven by the extreme heat at the end of June. (See NYISO Issues Energy Warning as Heat Wave Boils New York.) The heat caused shortage pricing because of a lack of energy reserves. NYISO had to make emergency purchases from neighboring regions. (See NYISO Details Late June Heat Wave for Reliability Council.)
Given the current and recent weather, NYISO likely would see high prices in July, too, Smith said.
“We’re not done with heat waves,” he said. “We might see [load] of over 30,000 MW today.” During the June heat wave, demand reached over 31,000 MW.
