Though Halved, Capacity Price for Ameren Illinois Territory Still Sharply Higher Than Historic Levels

The Midcontinent ISO saw the Zone 4 (Illinois) capacity price for the 2016-17 delivery year fall by half versus 2015-16, though the price is still well above the levels seen in prior auctions.

Last year's auction for the 2015-16 delivery year has resulted in a Zone 4 (most of Illinois, including Ameren) clearing price of $150.00/MW-day.

While various market reforms, including bid reference levels, led to this sharp decline in prices, it's still well above the historic norms for the zone which has seen capacity priced under $17.

This year, Zone 4 cleared at $72.00/MW-day, equal to Zones 2-3 and Zones 5-7 (Zone 7 includes the other MISO state with a semblance of retail choice, Michigan).

Zone 9, which includes Entergy Texas, cleared at $2.99/MW-day