Update — my friend contacted me and their power’s been restored, they’ve found more supplies and are better prepared should it go down again.
A friend in northwest San Antonio, TX (close to Helotes) posted this morning — there’s no wood left to purchase in the city. I know this is a long shot, but have we any readers there who might know someone who can get them some firewood?
From her lips to the Governor’s ears, one hopes.
Fell said regional natural gas and electricity prices in Oklahoma and Texas broke U.S. records over the weekend.
On Friday, Oklahoma gas transmission prices averaged US$350 per million British thermal units and Fell said one trade went as high as US$600 per mmBtu. In parts of the Texas panhandle and elsewhere, prices jumped to US$200, “all of which individually would have been new records,” Fell said, noting the previous record was US$160.
On Monday, natural gas for physical delivery in the U.S. was trading for as much as US$500 per mmBtu as demand for the heating and power plant fuel soared. Spot gas has been trading for hundreds of dollars across the central U.S. since Thursday with a surge in heating demand triggering widespread blackouts and sending electricity prices soaring. The fuel normally trades in the region for less than US$3 per mmBtu.
Similarly, electricity prices in Texas surged to US$6,000 per megawatt hour on Monday, which Fell said is “100 times the normal price.”