RPT-UPDATE 1-Texas regulators vote to double wholesale power cap

Reuters

Fri Oct 26, 2012 7:38am EDT

* Texas grid operator warns of blackouts without more supply

* Cap to rise incrementally, hit $9,000 in 2015

By Eileen O'Grady

AUSTIN, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Texas electric regulators voted Thursday to double the price cap for wholesale power by the summer of 2015, with a series of interim increases in the meantime, in a bid to draw more generation to feed the state's growing electricity demand.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas voted to increase the market cap when supplies are tight to $9,000 per megawatt-hour as of June 1, 2015, versus the current cap of $4,500 per MWh, to encourage new investment in power plants to supply the $34-billion wholesale market.

In the meantime, the cap would rise to $5,000/MWh when supply is tight for the summer of 2013 and to $7,000/MWh for the summer of 2014.

For more:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/26/utilities-texas-cap-idUSL1E8LQ25020121026