If you were to buy power today, you would pay (at wholesale) what you’re seeing on the right hand side of the graph. If you had bought 364 days ago, for the same period, you would have paid the prices you see at the left-most side of the graph. Now is not the worst time to buy– but there were other buying opportunities over the past 6 months that would have resulted in a lower cost of supply to you.

There may be some additional buying opportunities over the next several months. It is always wise to keep your eye on markets as your contract proceeds.

As for natural gas markets, we are entering heating season. While the heating season always tends to bring more price volatility, there are no dramatic trends in fundamentals that suggest that gas prices will be significantly higher. Take a look at EIA’s Natural Gas Weekly Update here.

Bottomline: When you buy is as significant a driver of your cost as how you buy.