The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s 2025 summer assessment warns of resource adequacy issues and electrical grid challenges if “anticipated warmer than average temperatures occur.”
The weather forecast contained in the report, released May 15, calls specifically for those higher-than-average temperatures.
The good news in the report is that if normal operating conditions prevail, all regions of the country should have adequate generating resources to meet demand, although margins will be tight.
But the rest of the report goes on to say that normal operating conditions could face serious challenges. One key finding is that load is projected to be higher this summer than in the past four summers.
The projection for ratepayers is that “wholesale prices are expected to be higher this summer compared with the summer of 2024 in most regions.”
FERC Chairman Mark Christie places the blame squarely on a supply and demand imbalance. “We are losing dispatchable generation at a pace that is not sustainable and we are not adding sufficient equivalent generation capability,” Christie said upon the report’s release. “Today’s assessment brings that point home.”
The report did not project disruptions or blackouts. It spoke of adequate resources and reserves in all regions. However, it did speak of increased uncertainty in regions already defined by tight supply, with the Northeast being one such region.
The 49-page report can be found here.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
