Regulatory Issues:

There are several regulatory issues that customers should monitor for 2017, with impacts potentially hitting in 2018.  The biggest and most noteworthy trend, is finding new ways to compensate power generators, which means consumers will likely have to pay more for electricity. In PJM territory, your likely to see less demand response providing grid reliability and higher capacity prices. At a state level, there’s more and more subsidies going towards nuclear power plants, which will also increase the cost of electricity for customers in those market areas. We are also seeing certain utilities  attempting to move merchant plants back into the rate base, which will likely lead to higher costs.  (Merchant plants are plants seeking less regulation and are often managed by subsidiaries of the parent company)

Natural Gas and Electricity Prices:

We predict that you will see continued volatility in natural gas prices, while electricity prices will move up slightly this year.