All gas and power contracts increased this week, with front season contracts reaching record highs of any season-ahead contract since 2008. This was due to sustained bullish market fundamentals, including fresh 10-year high carbon prices, five-year high coal prices, and a third consecutive weekly oil price rise. Day-ahead gas prices gained 7.6% to 74.5p/th, a fresh five-month high. October and November 18 gas contracts ended the week at fresh highs of 74.1p/th and 79.1p/th respectively. Seasonal gas contracts gained 6.9% on average. Day-ahead power prices rose 3.7% to £69.5/MWh, supported by soaring commodity prices. Low renewables generation has continued to push power prices up and has led to an increase in thermal power generation, including coal power which resulted in only four coal-free hours since the start of September. Seasonal power contracts went up 3.4% on average. The weekly average Brent crude oil price rose for the third consecutive week, gaining 3.5% to average $77.9/bl. Oil topped $79.0/bl on 4 September as oil platform evacuations began in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of tropical storm Gordon. EU ETS carbon prices rose for the eleventh consecutive week, increasing 3.0% to average €21.1/t. EU ETS carbon hit a fresh 10-year high of €23.2/t on 7 September following the auction of 4.4mn EUAs in Germany at €22.5/t. API 2 coal rose 3.6% to average $94.2/t this week, rising to a fresh five-year high of $96.0/t on 7 September.
Baseload electricity | ||
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Forward curve comparison | Annual October Contract | |
Peak electricity | ||
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Forward curve comparison | Annual October Contract | |
Seasonal power prices | ||
Seasonal baseload power contracts | Seasonal baseload power curve | |
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Commodity price movements | ||
Oil and Coal | Carbon | |
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Wholesale price snapshot |