The National Electricity Market is in dire need of repair. How long will it take to fix? asks Gareth Hutchens.
Wholesale prices surged higher and broke through a specific price threshold — due to a combination of international and local factors, which we'll come back to — so AEMO introduced a price cap.When the price cap was introduced at the beginning of the week, some fossil fuel generators withdrew a huge amount of capacity from the market on the basis that their operations would be unprofitable under that price cap.to supply the system at such low prices.
and politicians were asking voters to switch off appliances, with fears the system would need to shed some "load" .However, AEMO eventually took the unprecedented step of suspending the spot market for wholesale electricity entirely on Wednesday.to supply power to the system at a set price, regardless of the impact on their profits.
Ms Savage said she suspected their behaviour "may be motivated" by "seeking to avoid" the compensation scheme offered under the price cap "in favour of" the compensation they'd get if AEMO ordered them to supply power to the system.