Your energy costs depend on various factors that affect the cost of getting power from a power plant to your house. These include financing, construction, and operating expenses for power plants and the electricity grid.

Fuel costs, weather conditions, and market status also impact energy prices. For example, some utilities offer time-based pricing to encourage consumers to use less electricity during off-peak hours.

Generation

The bulk of electricity costs are related to its generation, including the cost of fuels used and processes involved in creating power. This phase can be affected by a wide range of factors, including the availability of resources and the varying demand for electricity at a given time. It can also be affected by weather events, such as heat waves, heavy snowfall, and grid infrastructure damage. These factors can limit the amount of energy that can be produced, which in turn raises prices.

The prices used to generate electricity by Irving electric company are determined by a combination of wholesale and retail market factors. Wholesale prices are set through competitive auctions in deregulated wholesale markets and may include prices from bilateral contracts. Retail prices are those paid by utilities, cooperatives, and municipalities that purchase the wholesale power for distribution to their residential, commercial, and industrial customers.

In the past, coal and oil-powered power plants have dominated energy production. However, technological advances have led to a rapid increase in natural gas supply. Many plants once powered by coal or oil now run on natural gas, reducing overall production costs. In addition, the low natural gas price has increased hours when these plants set electricity prices.

These prices are passed on to the end-users, increasing consumer rates. For example, industrial customers pay less per kilowatt-hour than residential or commercial customers because they use large amounts of energy at once, making it more economical to buy in bulk for wholesale pricing.

Transmission

You might think that what you pay when you flip your switch is straightforward, but a lot goes into producing and delivering electricity. It’s a complex, energy-intensive process requiring fuel, building, and operating costs. When these prices increase, your electricity rate increases too.

Almost half of your electricity bill is related to the cost of generation, which fluctuates with fuel prices and the varying demand for electricity at any given time. Another 13% comes from transmission, the infrastructure that safely delivers high-voltage power from the generation site to your home. It also includes fees for organizing the market, electricity supply, and distribution costs, including a flat customer charge and a variable rate tied to your peak use.

The remaining 29% is from the distribution cost, which includes lines and poles that connect your utility’s transmission system to your home. You can help keep your energy costs down by using less electricity when demand is highest, such as in the afternoon and early evening.

The model analyzed the influence of eight independent variables on electricity price formation. These factors were grouped into three categories: active energy, network capacity utilization, and losses in the transmission system. The research results showed that an increase in the amount of electricity generated leads to a small change in the price of electricity.

Distribution

The distribution phase is the final step in bringing electricity to your home. This is where utilities charge for the infrastructure and equipment that brings power to the consumer, including distribution substations, transformers, and the standard power lines you see along local roads.

In this phase, the NYISO calculates prices by determining expected demand and evaluating numerous supply offers. It selects the least costly suppliers first and then evaluates offers until the total demand is met. Several factors affect the price of electricity at this stage, including the cost of fuel. While every utility tries to minimize its generation costs, new technologies, and sourcing methods always change those costs.

Another factor is the cost of transmission. It’s important to note that transmission systems can’t retain 100% of the energy they transport, so some get lost in transmission. This loss is reflected in the electricity prices consumers pay. Finally, the model also examines fees for market organization, electricity supply and losses in the transmission system. The results show that the model can identify the effect of the fee paid for network capacity utilization, which significantly impacts the formation of electricity prices. In the case of the losses in the transmission system, however, these are less significant and do not have a major effect on the formation of electricity prices.

Demand

Your electricity bill includes fixed charges, a flat monthly rate, and variable charges, which depend on how much energy you use. You can keep your bills low by using less electricity during peak periods. This also saves money for your utility.

The cost of raw materials and transportation costs impacts energy prices. Fuel prices rise during periods of high demand or when weather, natural disasters, or political unrest in other parts of the world impact supplies. This is why monitoring fuel prices and factoring them into your energy plans is important.

Another major factor is the availability of power generation. Power plants must be built, maintained, and operated, and their equipment must be replaced regularly. Weather can also work for or against energy prices, as severe storms increase demand, but droughts and hot temperatures decrease it.

There are also fees associated with market organization and electricity supply that affect prices. These include supplier fees and market operator fees. There needs to be more literature in the research on the effect of these factors on the formation of prices for electricity in deregulated markets, which motivated this study. The authors used a regression model to determine the effect of the proposed groups of factors on the price of electricity and their effects on the formation of prices in an energy market.