Houston Chronicle by L.M. Sixel July 22, 2019
A view of the state's power grid in the ERCOT control room. Calpine has claimed responsibility
for a data error that sent wholesale power prices spiking at the end of May and, according to
an estimate from a commodity trading firm, cost consumers, industrial customers, power
traders and retail electric providers more than $18 million and boost the cost of futures
contracts by tens of millions more.
The Houston merchant power company Calpine has claimed responsibility for a data error that sent wholesale power prices spiking at the end of May and, according to an estimate from a commodity trading firm in Houston, cost consumers, industrial customers, power traders and retail electric providers more than $18 million.
The error likely added millions more in costs by pushing up the price of summer futures contracts for electricity, according to the electricity trading firm Aspire Commodities of Houston. Companies buy futures contracts to lock in supplies and prices over longer terms and protect themselves from rising prices. The costs of futures contracts are also built into electricity rates.
The price spike, which lasted less than three minutes and sent wholesale prices soaring to the maximum allowed by regulators, $9,000 per megawatt hour, occurred the afternoon of May 30, when temperatures were somewhat above average but supplies seemed plentiful. Calpine said an information technology employee unknowingly caused a data error that indicated Calpine had taken some 4,000 megawatts of generation capacity — enough to power some 800,000 Texas homes — offline when they were in fact still operating.
“We regret the error and are taking measures to prevent this type of event from occurring again,†said Calpine spokesman Brett Kerr.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Calpine-admits-error-that-sent-power-prices-14112008.php
