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The proud state of Texas actually had to import electricity
There is money to be made from such emergency situations. Power prices capped out at $5,000 per megawatt-hour Monday morning. The average power price is more like $50 per Mwh. That could mean a short-lived windfall for the likes of Energy Future Holdings , NRG Energy NRG +0.38%, Calpine CPN +0.51% and Panda Power.
A few more cold spells like this might be enough to convince these companies to invest in some new power plants.
and why would power suppliers invest in new plants when some companies benefit from the free market.
makes conservation look pretty good...doesn't it