# Electricity Electricity Monthly Update With Data for July 2013 | Release Date: September 23, 2013 | Next Release Date: October 22, 2013 

# Highlights: July 2013 • Total net generation in the United States decreased 5.5 percent in July 201 3 compared to the previous year. This decrease in electricity generation occurred because last Jul y was the hottest on record. • New York State (NYISO) recorded a new record daily peak demand in July, reaching 33,956 MW of demand on July 19, 2013. • The price of natural gas at Henry Hub on a $/MWh basis decreased below the price of Central A ppalachian coal, and in doing so, is now $1.00/MWh lower than the price of Central Appalachian coal. 

### Key Indicators July 2013 % Change from July 2012 Total Net Generation (Thousand MWh) 393,753 -5.5% Residential Retail Price (cents/kWh) 12.61 5.1% Retail Sales (Thousand MWh) 354,450 -4.3% Cooling Degree-Days 351 -14.0% Natural Gas Price, Henry Hub ($/MMBtu) 3.73 22.3% Natural Gas Consumption (Mcf) 937,994 -16.5% Coal Consumption (Thousand Tons) 83,466 -3.7% Coal Stocks (Thousand Tons) 160,403 -12.4% Nuclear Generation (Thousand MWh) 70,531 2.0% Nuclear Outages (MW) 6,100 -27.2% 

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# High repair costs and lower power prices drive nuclear retirements

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual E lectric Generator Report ( Form EIA-860 ) Note: One additional retirement (slated for 2019) was ann ounced in 2010 for Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Statio n (614 megawatts) in New Jersey. Since October 2012, electric power companies have announced the retirement of five nuclear reactors at four power plants. The five reactors have a combined capacity of nearly 4,200 m egawatts (MW). The recent retirements are the first sin ce 1998. Decisions to retire the units involved concerns over mainten ance and repair costs and declining profitability. Units t hat operated as merchant generators, meaning that the costs a ssociated with running and maintaining the plants cannotbe recovered through regulated cost-of-service rates, have bee n particularly sensitive to declining profitability. Low w holesale electricity prices, driven in part by lower natural gas pri ces, have been cited more often in the retirement deci sions of these plants while repair costs have been drivers of retirements at nuclear power plants owned by utilities. 

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8/ 1/2015 http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/update/archive/september2013/The recent reactor retirements will decrease the total number of operating nuclear reactors to 99 and will reduce total U.S

nuclear net summer capacity by almost 4%. Specific informa tion on each retirement is included below. Vermont Yankee (604 MW) Entergy Corporation issued the most recent retirement announcementin August 2013 when it stated that it would close Vermont Yankee. The station is expected to cease power pro duction and start decommissioning in the fourth quarter of 2014. Entergy said that low natural gas prices had pushed the w holesale price of electricity low enough to where Vermon t Yankee could not be profitable in its current cost structure. Th e company also cited what it called "wholesale market de sign flaws" that kept capacity prices and power prices artificially low i n the region. The plant was also facing modifications to its infrastructure due to Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC ) requirements addressing safety after the Fukushima nuclear incident in 2011. San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), Units 2 and 3 (2,150 MW total) On June 7, 2013 Southern California Edison (SCE) decided to permanently retire SONGS units 2 and 3 near San Diego. New steam generators were installed in Unit 2 in 2009 and in Unit 3 in 2010. In January 2012, a small leak wa s discovered inside a steam generator in Unit 3, and both units were shut down to evaluate the cause of the leakage and to make repairs. Both units have remained shutdown since then. SCE had su bmitted plans to the NRC to restart Unit 2 at reduced power, and the NRC was reviewing the restart plans. However, concerns over the length of the review process and the high costs associated with steam generator repairs led SCE to reti re both reactors. The potential effects of these units' continued outage was explored in a recent Today In Energy article

. Kewaunee Power Station (556 MW) In early May 2013, Dominion Resources retired the Kewaunee Power Station in Wisconsin because of low er wholesale power prices in the region. Kewaunee, a merchant plan t no longer associated with a state-regulated utility, was licensed to operate through 2033. Many of the power purchase agre ements that the plant held with load serving entities i n the region were expiring, and declining profits led Dominion to retire the plant. Crystal River Nuclear Generating Plant, Unit 3 (860 MW) On February 5, 2013 Duke Energy announced plans to retire Crystal River Unit 3 in Florida. Thiswas shortly after Duke had acquired Progress Energy , which had owned Crystal River. Crystal River Unit 3 wa s licensed to operate through 2016, and an application to extend the operating life of the un it to 2036 was under review by the NRC. Crystal River Un it 3 was shut down in September 2009 to refuel and to replace its steam generators. During the shutdown, workers discovered d amage to the concrete wall of the containment building, and add itional damage occurred during subsequent repairs in 20 11. Although a 2012 report indicated that the damage could be repaired and the plant restored to service, the uncertainty surrounding the cost and timing of repairs ultimately led Duke Energy to retire Crystal River Unit 3. The coal-fired units a t Crystal River will continue to operate. New nuclear capacity The loss of nuclear capacity from retirements is planned t o be offset by the construction of five nuclear reactors wi th a combined capacity of more than 5,600 MW. The completio n of construction at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar 2 in 2015 is expected to add almost 1,200 megawatts of new nuclear capacity. During 2012, the NRC issued combined operating licenses for four new nuclear reactors at two plants: Vogtle, units 3 and 4 in Georgia, and Virgil C. Summer, units 2 and 3 in South Carolina. The four reactors have a tota l capacity of almost 4,500 megawatts and are now under construction, with target dates for completion between 2016 and 201 8. There are also plans for capacity uprates at existing reactors. These plans include approximately 1,000 MW of uprate ca pacity currently under review by the NRC. However, Exelon 

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8/ 1/2015 http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/update/archive/september2013/Nuclear, which operates 17 reactors, recently announced t hat uprates previously approved by NRC, at LaSalle units 1 and 2

as well as Limerick units 1 and 2, will be delayed.
Principal Contributor: Tyson Brown ( Michael.Brown@eia.gov ) 

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