Soft Prices in the West, Load Growth in Focus Elsewhere

Western markets were generally soft over the week, as mild weather, strong renewable output, and robust hydro conditions suppressed real-time pricing in California and Texas, keeping broader western balancing conditions manageable. Reuters reported negative spot power in California and Texas early in the week, while CAISO continued final implementation work for the May 1 EDAM launch and advanced WEIM readiness activity for new participation. SPP’s western expansion, completed on April 1, remained the major structural development in the West, reinforcing operational diversity and the importance of seam coordination as Markets+ design work continued. 

In the central and eastern markets, pricing appeared more mixed but generally orderly, with no evidence in the reviewed sources of broad reliability stress comparable to that seen during winter conditions. The week’s most consequential developments were policy- and planning-related: ERCOT filed a preliminary long-term load forecast indicating very large load growth; MISO focused on outage-scheduling reforms tied to resource adequacy risk; PJM remained focused on large-load integration, interconnection reform, and FERC scrutiny of co-located load rules; ISO-NE discussed changes to restrain day-ahead ancillary service costs; and NYISO, AESO, and IESO continued advancing transmission, market design, and procurement work tied to long-run electrification and load growth.