The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has published a revised version of the Significant price reporting guidelines (Guideline) superseding the version published in September 2022.
The revised Guideline outlines a new criteria for identifying and reporting on significant price outcomes in the electricity wholesale market. It follows a review conducted by the AER in 2025, which found that a significant price outcome criteria of $5,000 per megawatt hour (MWh) was no longer fit for purpose in an evolving market. An expedited consultation process was held in late 2025, with 3 submissions made by stakeholders. These submissions are published below.
Instead of the fixed $5,000/MWh price to determine a significant price outcome, the AER will now identify one day each month when the maximum 30-minute price in the National Electricity Market (NEM) across all regions is highest, and the next highest priced day in the calendar quarter. This will result in a minimum of four days being selected as significant price outcomes each quarter.
The AER may apply a principles-based approach to select other price outcomes to report on if it deems them to have more significance than the selected days.
The new criteria will apply from Q1 2026, and the first report under the revised Guideline will be published in May 2026.
Purpose
The purpose of the Guidelines is to inform interested parties on our approach, criteria and procedures for reporting on significant prices. Reports prepared under the Guideline explain the key drivers of high energy price events. This
assists stakeholders and policymakers to assess whether the market is functioning effectively
acts as a preliminary assessment of possible market power or compliance
has a regulatory presence as a deterrent.