ISO-NE will again rely on the winter reliability program it has used for the last two winters, which gives oil generators incentives to secure fuel at the beginning of the winter.

The ISO-NE Market Monitor said the increase was largely driven by higher fuel costs in the first quarter.

A new report by Morningstar predicts on-peak prices at PJM’s West Hub will result in “historically high” spark spreads in delivery year 2015-16.

Natural gas demand and production both set records in 2014, while gas trading declined for the fourth straight year, FERC reported last week.

Stakeholders representing load may oppose efforts to change PJM’s $1,000 per MWh offer cap, despite a frigid winter in which high gas prices forced the RTO to obtain temporary waivers from the limit.

Storms provided challenges, but a bounty of cheap natural gas brought consumers lower prices, PJM officials said at the Annual Meeting Year in Review.

By Rich Heidorn Jr. PJM Insider Two unplanned generator outages and high natural gas demand resulted in unusually high Balancing Operating Reserve (BOR) pay...