The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) today published a report into energy prices exceeding $5,000 per megawatt hour (MWh) in the National Electricity Market (NEM) during April, May and June 2025.
The wholesale 30-minute energy prices exceeded $5,000 per MWh 66 times in the quarter - 19 times in NSW, eight times in Queensland, 15 times in Victoria, 15 times in South Australia and nine times in Tasmania. This compares to 11 high prices in the previous quarter and 19 high prices in the same quarter last year.
Prices in two consecutive 30-minute Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) exceeded $5,000 per MW 10 times during the quarter. This compares with no FCAS high prices in the previous quarter and 15 FCAS high prices over the same period last year.
There were two distinct parts to this quarter. In April and for most of May, the weather was mild and as a result demand was moderate. With the start of winter in June, temperatures dropped, increasing heating requirements and causing demand to rise.
The high prices occurred due to a combination of contributing factors including high demand, low wind output, network limitations, planned and unplanned baseload outages and participant rebidding.
The high price events occurred across six separate days in April, May and June 2025:
- 9 April in NSW for one 30-minute period and in QLD for one 30-minute period
- 13 May in NSW for two 30-minute periods
- 28 May in NSW for one 30-minute period
- 11 June across all regions of the National Electricity Market for five 30-minute periods
- 12 June across all regions of the National Electricity Market for thirty 30-minute periods
- 26 June in NSW, VIC, SA for twenty-four 30-minute periods and in TAS for two 30-minute periods.
Today’s report follows the release of the AER’s latest Wholesale markets quarterly report for April to June 2025.
Background
The AER is required to report into significant price outcomes in the NEM.
30-minute wholesale electricity prices do not often reach $5,000 per MWh, but with a market price cap of $17,500 per MWh (during Q2 2025) prices can occasionally exceed this reporting threshold. This reporting framework is intended to pick up these outlier events. Note the market price cap increased to $20,300 per MWh from 1 July 2025.
A high price may occur due to a variety of factors, including outages that adversely affect supply-demand conditions in the wholesale market.
The AER’s role in monitoring wholesale energy markets and reporting on high price events helps to enhance market transparency and compliance.
Our analysis provides a foundation to detect non-compliance, market irregularities, inefficiencies, and consumer harm. We draw on this work to advise stakeholders and market bodies on wholesale market issues.
The AER has published a Guideline for how we report into significant price outcomes.