Wholesale markets
Electricity generated in the National Electricity Market (NEM) is sold in a wholesale spot market covering Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT. There is also a wholesale spot market for gas in Victoria and a short term trading market for gas in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. The AER’s State of the energy market report outlines the operation of these markets.
Our role in wholesale markets
One of the AER’s roles is to ensure compliance with the legislation and rules for wholesale energy markets. To fulfill this role the AER monitors wholesale electricity and gas markets, and where appropriate takes enforcement action for breaches.
Market monitoring allows us to inform policy makers, participants and the community about wholesale market activity, assess levels of compliance and identify breaches of rules and laws.
Types of wholesale market reports
Our reports fall into four broad categories.
- Market performance – these reports include weekly analysis of the gas and electricity wholesale markets and detailed reports into high-price events.
- Market guidelines – a small number of guidelines on wholesale market matters have been published by the AER (note: there are also network guidelines and retail guidelines in other sections of the website).
- Compliance reporting – this includes a detailed Quarterly Compliance Report that explains our compliance/enforcement activities under the rule and laws. We also publish compliance bulletins, which set out the AER’s position on certain compliance issues, and investigation reports after most major investigations.
- Enforcement matters – for enforcement matters where we issue infringement notices or commence proceedings.