The NYISO energy market performed competitively in the third quarter of 2024, with all-in prices ranging from $42/MWh in the North Zone to $72/MWh in New York City, a decline of 4 to 14% from the same period in 2023, according to the Market Monitoring Unit’s third-quarter State of the Market report.

Presenting to the NYISO Installed Capacity Working Group, Pallas LeeVanSchaick, vice president of MMU Potomac Economics, said that even though all-in prices were slightly down, energy costs generally were up by 4 to 26% in most areas, despite relatively flat natural gas prices compared to 2023. The MMU found that the driver was higher emissions costs: Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon prices rose by 78% between 2023 and 2024, adding $4 to $5/MWh to energy prices.

The exception to this was in the Long Island zone, which benefited from additional offshore wind and imports across the Cross Sound Cables.

“There was an outage of one of the 354-kV circuits into Long Island which would tend to make prices higher,” said LeeVanSchaick. “But on the other hand, imports over the Cross Sound Cable increased a lot due to higher availability in 2024 … so you actually saw a drop in prices on Long Island despite a significant outage there.”

Capacity costs fell by 29 to 39%, depending on the zone, because of lower demand curve reference points, reduced locational capacity requirements and a lower peak load forecast.

“Congestion rose modestly from the previous year but remained low, marking the second-lowest level for a third quarter since 2014,” the report says.