Declaring the emergency 

On 22 December 2022, the NSW Premier, under the Energy and Utilities Administration Act 1987 (NSW), declared a coal market price emergency from 22 December 2022 to 30 June 2024.

This enables the government to impose price caps on coal used in the NSW power sector.

The NSW Minister for Energy has powers to give directions to NSW coal-fired power stations and coal suppliers to respond to the emergency.

View the current directions 

AER appointed as regulator

On 13 February 2023, the NSW Minister for Energy formally appointed the AER as the regulator to monitor compliance with and enforcement of the directions.

Our role is to ensure NSW coal suppliers and power stations comply with directions and enable reporting on the impacts of the market interventions.

To assist them in this, we published 2 guidance notes and a set of frequently asked questions.

Applying for a price cap review

The directions allow coal suppliers to apply to the NSW Minister for Energy for a higher price cap if their production costs with a fair margin exceed the directed price cap.

Applications to the NSW Minister must be approved by the AER.

In April 2023, we published a guidance note describing our assessment approach for production costs and fair margins. The guideline also includes the form that coal suppliers must use when submitting their application to the NSW Minister.

Guidance Notes

Guidance note - NSW Coal miner compliance with coal market price emergency directions

Compliance reports
Electricity

Guidance note - NSW Power station compliance with coal market price emergency directions

Compliance reports
Electricity

Guidance note - Assessment of coal production costs and fair margin

Compliance reports
Electricity

Recent price cap review applications

The NSW Minister for Energy has referred the following applications for a higher price cap to the AER for assessment:

  • BHP regarding Mt Arthur Coal (1 May 2023) - we have finalised our assessment of this application. We provided our advice to the NSW Minister for Energy on 5 June 2023.
  • Yancoal regarding Stratford (5 June 2023) - we have finalised our assessment of this application. We provided our advice to the NSW Minister for Energy on 30 June 2023.
  • Centennial Coal regarding Myuna (29 June 2023) - we have finalised our assessment of this application. We provided our advice to the NSW Minister for Energy on 5 September 2023.
  • Centennial Coal regarding Mandalong (24 October 2023) - we are currently assessing this application in accordance with our Guidance note.