US Texas/Southeast power slips with lower demand

HOUSTON, May 15 (Reuters) - Electricity prices for Friday
delivery in Texas and the U.S. Southeast eased for a second day
as cooler, rainy weather will limit power demand ahead of the
weekend.

Temperatures across the region are forecast to climb to
above-normal levels beginning Monday in Texas and spreading
east by Tuesday.

Next-day power also fell as natural gas prices retreated
from a 29-month high. Gas is the dominant power-plant fuel in
the Entergy and ERCOT market areas.

* Tennessee Valley Authority's 1,155-megawatt Browns Ferry 3
nuclear reactor in Alabama started to exit a two-month
refueling outage Thursday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission said in a report. [nN15180161]

* In Texas, American Electric Power Co Inc (AEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) planned
to work on the 690-MW Oklaunion coal-fired power through May 22
to fix a tube leak. [nN15210084] The grid operator also
reported a trip of the 220-MW North DC tie which is located
near Oklaunion.

* Luminant's 750-MW Martin Lake 3 coal-fired power unit in
north Texas returned to service after a brief outage, a
spokesman said. [nN15281911] Two other Luminant coal plants,
the 545-MW Sandow 4 and the 750-MW Monticello 3 unit, remain
shut for longer-term repair in advance of hot summer weather.

* NuCoastal Power Group said its 300-MW gas-fired Victoria
Power Station is near completion and expects to be online in
July. [nN15337430]

* Output at the 1,166-megawatt Wolf Creek reactor in Kansas
rose to 30 percent by early Thursday as the unit completes
repairs following a refueling outage, according to a regulatory
report.

* In Florida, FPL Group Inc's (FPL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 693-MW Turkey Point 4
reactor rose to 73 percent, from 48 percent a day earlier, as
it returns from a refueling outage. [nN15196509]

For complete outage data see [OUTAGES/] for power plants and
[TOUTAGES/] for power lines.

The following data is for peak hours:
DAY-AHEAD PRICES EL-N
REGION TODAY 1-DAY AGO 2-DAY AGO WK AGO YR AGO
Entergy $68-73 $70-75 $71-76 $82 $53
ERCOT $76-82 $75-82 $72-82 $105 $56
ERCOT-HOU $90-98 $105-125 $130-145 $148 $60
ERCOT-NORTH $76-82 $75-85 $75-85 $104 $56
ERCOT-SOUTH $90-110 $109-130 $145-160 $148 $57
ERCOT-WEST $80-90 $76-80 $73-83 $100 NA
HISTORIC AVERAGE MONTHLY PRICES
REGION LAST MAY 5-YEAR AVG
Entergy $65 $53
ERCOT $64 $57
LOAD DATA (Megawatts)

THU FRI MON TUE
ERCOT 41,200 38,700 52,500 55,600

NOTE: See <0#USPOWER> for more prices other data from the
grid operators.
ACCUWEATHER.COM TEMPS
CITY THU FRI MON TUE
HOUSTON 84/65 80/59 88/68 88/68
LITTLE ROCK 81/53 76/54 88/63 87/65
ATLANTA 73/63 76/54 79/58 82/63
Houston May Normal High/Low - 85/66
Little Rock May Normal High/Low - 81/59
Atlanta May Normal High/Low - 79/58
SPOT NATURAL GAS PRICES
PIPELINE TODAY 1-DAY AGO
Henry Hub (mmBtu) $11.41 $11.51

Heat Rate in Entergy 6,200 6,300
Houston Ship Channel $11.18 $11.23

Heat rate, ERCOT-Hou 8,300 10,100

NOTE: The average heat rate for gas plants in the United
States is about 8,600 Btu/kilowatt-hour while the most
efficient, least expensive to operate combined-cycle units have
heat rates below 7,000.

Natural gas is the primary fuel for more than 70 percent of
the plants in Texas, 70 percent of the units in Entergy, 49
percent of the units in Florida and just 28 percent of the
units in the rest of the Southeast.
RELATED LINKS
-North American Electricity Speed Guide ..... USPOWER
-North American Power News ... [ELN]
-Top North American Power/Natural Gas News .. [TOP/ELN]
-North American Northeast/Midwest Power Report [ELN/N]
-North American Texas/Southeast Power Report . [ELN/M]
-North American Western Power Report ......... [ELN/W]
-North American OTC Electricity Price Table .. EL-N
-U.S. ICE Electricity Price Tables ......... <0#POWER-IDX=ICE>
-North American Power Plant Outage Table ..... [OUTAGES/]
-North American Power Transmission Table ..... [TOUTAGES/]
-U.S. Nuclear Power Reactor Outage Table ..... [NUKE/]
-U.S. Nuclear Outage Data ..... <0#USEL-OUTAGE>
-U.S. EEI Electricity Output Report .......... [EEI/]
-U.S. EEI Electricity Output Table ........... EEI-
-U.S. Spot Gas Report ......... [NGA/US]
-Canadian spot natural gas market report ..... [NGA/CAN]
-NYMEX Electricity Futures .... <0#USELEC/FUT>
-NYMEX Gas Futures Report ..... [NGA/]
-NYMEX Uranium (U3O8) Futures Prices ......... <0#UXX:>
-U.S. OTC Spot Gas Prices ..... <0#NG-US>
-U.S. ICE Gas Price Tables .... <0#GAS-IDX=ICE>
-U.S. BTU Spot Natural Gas Prices ............ <0#NG-BTU>
-NYMEX Gas Futures Prices ..... <0#NG:>
-North American OTC Fuel Oil Table ........... PPYF
-NYMEX Crude Oil Futures Prices ...............<0#CL:>
-U.S. Spot Gas versus Oil Table .............. PPIN
-U.S. OTC Coal Prices ......... <0#USCOAL>
-U.S. Coal Report ............. <COAL/US>
-Oil News ...... [O]
-Utility News .. [ELG]
-Coal News ..... [COA]
-Natural Gas News ............. [NGS]
-Nuclear News .. [NUC]
-Environmental News ........... [ENV]
-Renewable Energy News ........ [RNW]
-Carbon Dioxide/Greenhouse Gas News .......... [CO2]
-Residual Oil News ............ [RFO]
-Weather News .. [WEA]
-Energy Speed Guide ........... ENERGY
-Electricity Speed Guide ...... ELECTRICITY
-Natural Gas Speed Guide ...... NATGAS
-Coal Speed Guide ............. COAL
-Emissions Speed Guide ........ EMISSIONS
-Carbon Speed Guide ........... CARBON
-Weather Speed Guide .......... WEATHER
(Reporting by Eileen O'Grady, editing by Richard Chang)