A perfect storm is brewing in New England and California  The Aliso Canyon natural gas leak, unexpected lower generation capacity, and warmer than anticipated weather could threaten reliability and strain electricity grids.  One way to avoid high prices resulting from the increased demand is to sign up for Tradition Energy’s Coincident Peak Alert Notifications.

Natural gas constraints in Southern California could pose a risk to the region’s power supply this summer, while New England and Texas could face tight electricity supplies, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said on Thursday.

Overall, the agency said in its Summer 2017 Energy Market and Reliability Assessment report that preliminary data from the North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC), which writes the nation’s power reliability standards, forecast power resources should be adequate to meet demand in most regions this summer.

However, restrictions at Southern California Gas’ Aliso Canyon, the biggest natural gas storage facility in the state, could pose a risk to gas and electric reliability, especially if hotter than normal weather conditions and unplanned gas pipeline outages materialize during the summer, FERC said.

California state agencies have not allowed SoCalGas, a unit of Sempra Energy, to inject gas into the facility following a leak between October 2015-February 2016.

Also, new regulations on gas storage facilities imposed by California, are likely to reduce the flow of the fuel, FERC added.

Read the rest at Reuters.com