By Scott DiSavino
(Reuters) -U.S. power generators burned a record amount of natural gas on Tuesday, the hottest day so far of this summer, according to preliminary data from financial firm LSEG on Thursday.
Extreme weather reminds consumers of the fatal freeze in February 2021 that left millions of Texans without power, water and heat for days and a brutal heat wave in August 2020 that forced the California power grid operator to impose rotating outages that affected about 800,000 customers over two days.
As homes and businesses cranked up their air conditioners to escape the brutal heat this week, LSEG said power generators burned a preliminary 54.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of gas on Tuesday, which would top the current record of 52.8 bcfd on July 28, 2023.
Power generator demand for gas slid to around 51.8 bcfd on Wednesday and 50.5 bcfd on Thursday with a slight reduction in average daily temperatures across the U.S. Lower 48 states as the remnants of Hurricane Beryl moved from Texas to Michigan.
One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply about five million U.S. homes for a day.
As soaring demand stresses electric grids, next-day power prices soared this week to their highest since January in Southern California, New England, the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland region and the Pacific Northwest, according to pricing data on the LSEG terminal.
In Arizona, where AccuWeather said high temperatures hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47.8 Celsius) this week, power prices soared to their highest since August 2023.
LSEG said Tuesday was the hottest day so far this summer with average temperatures across the Lower 48 states of 81.2 degrees F.
Meanwhile, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said last June was the hottest month on record, leading some scientists to warn 2024 could be the world's hottest year. Climate scientists have long said countries need to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and burning fossil fuels, which are the main cause of climate change like intensifying heatwaves.
MORE HEAT TO COME
AccuWeather forecast temperatures would reach 92 F in Chicago on July 14 and 95 F in New York on July 15-16. That compares with normal highs of 85 F in both cities at this time of year.
Electric grid operators across the country declared hot weather alerts this week and told energy companies to put off unnecessary maintenance so all available generating plants and power lines would be ready for service.
But despite the extreme heat, the grid operators have not taken more extreme actions to manage supply and demand - like calls for conservation or rotating outages - and none were currently projecting power use would break all-time highs over the next week.
In California, where AccuWeather projected high temperatures in Los Angeles would reach 88 F for a third day in a row on Thursday, the California ISO, which operates the state's power grid, did tell customers to "prepare for the need to conserve energy" on Wednesday and Thursday.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Josie Kao and Aurora Ellis)