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Please define "commodities" as used in the IRP analysis. What does that include?
In the IRP context, “commodities” refers to key market based inputs used in modeling resource costs and system economics. These primarily include energy commodities and related market prices such as natural gas prices, fuel oil prices, electricity energy prices, capacity prices, and renewable energy certificates (RECs), among others.
These commodity price assumptions are developed based on market data and forecasts and are used as inputs to the Company’s planning models, such as PLEXOS, to evaluate future system costs and resource options. While the term “commodities” can have a broader meaning in economic analysis, for IRP purposes it is focused on the specific fuels, energy products, and compliance instruments that directly affect power system costs.