July Market Performance

NYISO Senior Vice President Rana Mukerji on Wednesday presented the July operations report to the Business Issues Committee, saying it was a “quiet month” and that July’s average energy costs were down 54% compared to last year.

July’s higher average temperatures increased locational-based marginal prices compared to June, but the 76.7% year-over-year decline in average fuel prices means prices are much more stable.

Working Capital Fund Rebalance

The BIC also voted to recommend that tariff revisions presented by NYISO related to rebalancing the ISO’s working capital fund be approved by the Management Committee on Aug. 30.

NYISO is required to maintain a working capital fund that rebalances its coffers, either by refunding or charging customers based on their market contribution, and the ISO proposed to increase the frequency of this rebalancing to semiannual, as well as use a six-month lookback period in its calculations, rather than a whole year.

The ISO argues that its proposals will make customers’ bills or refunds more accurate, shorten the time it will take for customers to receive either their bills or refunds and enable customers to obtain interest distributions twice a year.

NYISO expects the MC will vote to recommend that the board approve the proposed revisions, and it anticipates filing the revisions with FERC in October.

Staff Shakeup

NYISO told the BIC that Mike DeSocio, director of market design at NYISO, is leaving his position at the end of the month to become an energy consultant.

DeSocio has been with NYISO for 23 years and will be replaced by Shaun Johnson, director of market mitigation and analysis at the ISO.

Johnson previously led the market design team for roughly a decade, during which he helped shepherd broader regional market initiatives that enabled the design of current markets, according to NYISO staff.