How load zones work
ERCOT calculates prices at many points on the grid. Power users are not billed at each point. Instead, their energy is settled at the price of their load zone, which blends the prices across the zone.
The four main competitive load zones are North, Houston, South and West. Some city-owned utilities and cooperatives have their own zones.
Why the zone matters
Prices differ between zones because of congestion and the local mix of generation and demand. For a large load, the zone affects the long-run cost of energy and the kind of supply contract that makes sense.
How Voltane reports it
For an ERCOT site, Voltane gives the load zone and, where price data is loaded, historical day-ahead prices for that zone with the retrieval date. These are history at zone level. They are not a forecast, not a price at the exact site, and not a contract price. A site near a zone boundary can be assigned the neighbouring zone, so confirm the zone with the utility.
Questions people ask
Which ERCOT load zone is my site in?
The utility or your retail provider can confirm it. Voltane assigns a zone from the nearest located ERCOT stations, which can be wrong near a boundary.
Is a load zone price the same as a nodal price?
No. A nodal price is the price at one point on the grid. A load zone price blends many points and is what load pays.
Related
More glossary
- What is time to power?
- What is powered land?
- What is a powered shell?
- What is large load interconnection?
- What is a point of interconnection?
- What is an interconnection queue?
- What is queue position?
- What is ERCOT?
Need a site, or have one?
Tell us what you need and Voltane finds, reports on and prices candidate sites in ERCOT. Or bring a site you already have for a path-to-power report (by request for now).