Even though summer is normally the part of the year with the highest demand and the greatest constraints on generation, recent months have seen several incidents of negative pricing. The Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP) was less than zero 8 times during the month of July. The lowest HOEP for the month was -$128.05 set on July 1, hour ending 6. The lowest 5-minute interval price of -$128.20 occurred on July 20, during interval 1 of hour ending 7. Low demand and ample supply of generation are the key contributors to low-priced hours.
HOEP was greater than $200 once, when it reached $209.16 on July 4, hour ending 17. The highest 5-minute interval price occurred in the same hour, in interval 6, when the price was set at $243.46. This was due to higher-than-forecast demand during a period of high humidity with temperatures that broke records in several Ontario cities, combined with a loss of generation.
The lowest hourly market demand was 13,335 MW on July 21, hour ending 5. The highest peak hourly market demand for the month: 26,815 MW occurred on July 17, hour ending 16.