Prices were also sent higher as gale-force winds pummelled critical electricity supplies in Victoria on February 13,tearing down high-voltage transmission towers west of Melbourne and causing AGL’s giant Loy Yang A coal-fired power plant in the Latrobe Valley to disconnect from the grid.
“The storm damage impacted supply of electricity to neighbouring regions South Australia and Tasmania,and contributed to high-price events in all three regions,” the regulator said.
Wholesale power prices – what retailers pay generators for electricity before on-selling it to customers – can typically account for up to one-third of retail power bills for households and businesses.
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There were 26 half-hour instances of wholesale prices soaring beyond $5000 per megawatt-hour,known as “high price events”,in the three months to March 31 – more than double the number in the same period last year. Of those 26 events,11 were in Queensland and five were in Victoria,the figures show.
Across the quarter,wholesale prices rose 20 per cent in Queensland and 9 per cent in Victoria but were between 5 per cent and 15 per cent lower in all other eastern states.
“Although the summer heat and the power system event in Victoria on February 13 meant that wholesale prices in Queensland and Victoria were higher than the same time last year,all other regions were lower than the first quarter of 2023,” Australian Energy Regulator board member Jarrod Ball said.