Energy Market Update 🔌

Weekly Power Outlet US - 2025 - Week 13

Natural Gas, Grid Testimony, Eskom

Mark Perman - Director, Energy Solutions, Justin Siemens - Specialist Consultant, Energy Services

Mar 28, 2025 — 3 min read

Photo by Megan Ellis / Unsplash

Natural Gas, Grid Testimony, Eskom

Energy Market Update Week 13, brought to you by Acumen.

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Well, I beat the drum and hold the phone
The sun came out today
We're born again, there's new grass on the field

John Fogerty

player playing baseball on ballpark — Photo by Pierre-Etienne Vachon / Unsplash

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Have a burning question? Or some feedback about our content? Drop us an email to the new Weekly Power Outlet mailbox! You never know, we may feature the answer in the next post!

red and blue light streaks — Photo by Maxim Hopman / Unsplash

The EIA storage data reported an injection of 37 Bcf vs the estimates of 25 Bcf. There seemed to be some measured normalcy to the natural gas market this week after a lot of headlines and what we'd assumed was plenty of speculative money in the market. The May contract has rolled to the front month and this morning is trading well below $4 MMBtu.

As seen in the maps below, the weather forecasts are calling for a flip flop as the west looks colder than normal, while the east is looking at above average temps. It appears we are firmly in the shoulder season and markets are reflecting such.

brown wooden tool on white surface — Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm / Unsplash

This week, the Energy Subcommittee held a hearing titled Keeping the Light On: Examining the State of Regional Grid Reliability. Attached is the three-hour YouTube link should you not be a college basketball, baseball, or warm weather fan for the weekend.

If by chance, three hours is a bit much, perhaps we can help. Representatives from all seven RTOs were in attendance, and the PJM CEO Manu Asthana pretty much summed up the message, “I want to be clear, renewable generators play an important role and we want them to come onto the grid, but they are not a one-for-one substitute for the fossil fuel generators that we are replacing,”.

a view of a factory in the middle of a field — Photo by Trav Wade / Unsplash

If you've followed us for a while here at the WPO, you know that every so often we add a little context into the US grid by posting some things from the South African utility, Eskom. We post these because some of them are kind of comical, but also to remind that running a utility is not easy. Eskom has plenty of issues we don't face in North America, and one of the biggest is the constant theft of plant and equipment. Imagine having to construct an email to ratepayers letting them know some time tomorrow the power will resume, if nothing else is stolen.