This report analyses the average wholesale price of electricity across Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM) in financial years. Wholesale electricity prices are measured in dollars per megawatt hour (MWh). The data for this report is gathered from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and the Australian Energy Regulator (AER).

Over the past decade, the South Australian electricity market has undergone a dramatic change in supply mix. Prior to 2005, energy generation needs were predominantly sourced from gas and brown coal power stations. Since then, over 1500 MW of wind capacity and 680 MW of rooftop solar has been installed. At the same time, 770 MW of brown coal capacity has exited the market.These developments have substantially reduced the greenhouse gas emissions from South Australian electrical power generation. Recent steep increases, especially in the winter of 2016, has seen record high prices set, in what some have called the South Australian “energy crisis”. Recent media attention has focused on the relationship between the high level of penetration of renewable energy and the energy crisis. Much of the reporting has been framed in ideological terms - renewables are either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ - with little reference to quantitative analysis of the dynamics of the wholesale electricity market or movements in associated markets such as gas.This report explores the evolving dynamics in the electricity market in South Australia and how it is impacting wholesale prices. In particular, the report focuses on the growth in renewable energy generation, the impact of a changing gas market and market power concentration and competition issues.

Australia is facing a fundamental rewiring of its electricity markets. As consumers, investors and governments clamour for more renewable generation, large-scale wind power is receiving an influx of capacity investment. Windy states, like South Australia and Victoria, are producing more of their electricity from wind as Australia prepares to retire the large coal-fired power stations that have powered Australia's economy for the last 50 years. Other smaller forms of renewable generation, like biomass, tidal and geothermal generation, have taken a back seat. The Federal Government's Renewable Energy Target lets eligible generators sell Large-scale Generation Certificates (LGCs), creating another income source that has justified ongoing investment in new wind power projects. Although LGC prices are sliding down as more generators flood the market, skyrocketing wholesale prices have been a welcome contrast, allowing many wind power generators to cash in on high prices on the spot market, driving up industrywide profitability. High prices have also driven expected annualised revenue growth of 7.0% over the five years through 2024-25, to reach $2.7 billion. This includes an expected hike of 4.7% in 2024-25 as wholesale prices are anticipated to spike. In 2021-22, turmoil in global energy markets, outages, weather patterns and high demand combined to raise wholesale prices in the National Electricity Market to unsustainable levels. Although prices have since eased, they remain well above pre-pandemic levels. Looking ahead, wind generation capacity is only going to increase as federal and state governments strive to hit their emissions reduction goals. Offshore wind farms will offer even more room for capacity growth, with Victoria earmarking the technology as part of its investment in renewable sources. Although offshore wind is more costly to develop and maintain, it’s projected to result in medium- and long-term growth in generation capacity. For the private sector, Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) are gaining popularity, allowing businesses to meet their sustainability targets, ensure a reliable flow of energy and manage risk in volatile wholesale markets. Overall, revenue is forecast to soar at an annualised 12.9% over the five years through 2029-30, to hit $4.9 billion.

Ireland, Italy, and Germany had some of the highest household electricity prices worldwide, as of March 2025. At the time, Irish households were charged around 0.45 U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour, while in Italy, the price stood at 0.43 U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour. By comparison, in Russia, residents paid almost 10 times less. What is behind electricity prices? Electricity prices vary widely across the world and sometimes even within a country itself, depending on factors like infrastructure, geography, and politically determined taxes and levies. For example, in Denmark, Belgium, and Sweden, taxes constitute a significant portion of residential end-user electricity prices. Reliance on fossil fuel imports Meanwhile, thanks to their great crude oil and natural gas production output, countries like Iran, Qatar, and Russia enjoy some of the cheapest electricity prices in the world. Here, the average household pays less than 0.1 U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour. In contrast, countries heavily reliant on fossil fuel imports for electricity generation are more vulnerable to market price fluctuations.

As Australia looks to a cleaner future, solar power offers a bright alternative to emissions-intensive fossil fuels. Advances in solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies have made solar commercially viable, with China manufacturing most of the world's solar panels. In contrast to small-scale solar, which is covering more Australian homes than ever before, the utility-scale market remains relatively untapped. Buoyed by public sector support, private capital is now flooding into new solar projects and propelling capacity growth. Larger farms are being constructed to generate economies of scale and serve industrial firms. Amid vocal consumer and shareholder support for clean energy, businesses are adopting net-zero targets and locking in Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with solar generators, while also creating demand for Large-scale Generation Certificates (LGCs). In recent years, solar generators have capitalised on inflated wholesale electricity prices and banked healthy profit margins. The lack of material inputs has saved solar generators from high coal and gas prices, which surged in 2021-22 and 2022-23. Wholesale electricity markets are pegged to global fossil fuel prices because fossil fuel electricity generation is important in Australia's electricity supply chain. This meant that while wholesale electricity prices surged to unprecedented highs, solar power generation’s profitability also rose sharply. This shock tapered off in 2023-24, with declining wholesale prices contributing to the industry's first ever decline in annual revenue. However, revenue is expected to expand 8.7% in 2024-25, as wholesale prices have jumped and generation capacity has continued to expand as more solar farms have come through the pipeline. In total, revenue is expected to have surged at an annualised 28.9% over the five years through 2024-25, to $2.1 billion. Solar power generators will face headwinds in the coming years. Wholesale markets are set to continue being erratic as renewable capacity grows and coal-fired generators start to close. Annual revenue will be constrained despite continued growth in the volume of power generated by large-scale solar. Electricity wholesale prices are forecast to recede, particularly over the medium term, as renewables account for a larger share of the energy mix. At the same time, LGC markets will contend with a fixed Renewable Energy Target, which is set at an already-met 33,000 GWh until 2030. Overall, revenue is projected to climb at an annualised 9.6% over the five years through 2029-30, to $3.4 billion.

This dataset provides values for ELECTRICITY PRICE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

The Electricity Infrastructure Construction industry is responsible for installing power generation, storage, transmission and distribution infrastructure for the Electricity Supply subdivision. Most electricity infrastructure remains state-owned, and many public sector electricity networks maintain in-house construction and asset upgrades and oversee the industry's activity. Electricity infrastructure is built before requirements, with extra capacity to minimise downtime risks. The recent closure of several coal-fired power plants has put pressure on wholesale electricity prices. Supply chain constraints and the Russia-Ukraine conflict also pushed up coal and gas input prices. Unprecedented investment in renewable energy, storage facilities and high-voltage transmission infrastructure has lifted electricity infrastructure construction to a record level. Revenue is expected to have climbed at an annualised 3.8% over the five years through 2024-25, to $19.6 billion. This includes an anticipated growth of 5.0% in 2024-25 as work progresses on several large-scale developments. These include Golden Plains Wind Farm in Victoria, MacIntyre Wind Farm in Queensland and the EnergyConnect transmission line from New South Wales to South Australia. The industry has expanded on the back of robust investment in renewable power generation capacity, pumped hydro and battery storage facilities, and high-voltage transmission system developments to modernise the electricity grid in key Renewable Energy Zones (REZs). Still, some companies have exited the industry following substantial losses from escalating input costs and construction delays. Overall, the industry’s profitability has improved despite hiked input prices resulting from supply chain blockages. As governments push to meet renewable energy targets (RETs), the industry is poised to maintain solid revenue growth and remain at historically high levels. Revenue is forecast to climb at an annualised 1.9% over the five years through 2029-30, to $21.6 billion. Planned additions in renewable generation capacity, battery and pumped hydro storage systems, and high-voltage transmission networks will underpin the industry's performance. Progress on offshore wind power projects, proposed pumped hydro developments in Queensland and the giant Australian Renewable Energy Hub in Western Australia could substantially boost the industry's performance.

The past few years have seen significant changes in the electricity retail market. Deregulation has intensified competition from new, smaller retailers, which has limited pricing power and profitability for traditional industry giants. Despite the implementation of price caps, like the Default Market Offer (DMO) and the Victorian Default Offer (VDO) that improved price transparency for consumers, retailers faced challenges with escalating wholesale supply costs driven by high gas and coal prices, extreme weather events and fluctuations in demand. While some retailers were able to offset these costs by benefiting from high wholesale prices, non-integrated retailers suffered significant profit margin losses. Government interventions have sought to control retail prices and provide relief for households and small businesses facing rising costs. The increasing adoption of rooftop solar panels presented challenges for retailers in maintaining demand. However, solar panel adoption rates have plateaued as subsidisation has declined, offering relief for retailers. Overall, revenue is expected to climb at an annualised 1.5% over the five years through 2024-25, including an anticipated 0.8% hike in the current year, to total $50.4 billion. The short-term forecast for electricity retailers shows a potential for increased revenue, based on regulatory changes to the DMO and VDO. These provisions are set to cause a rise in prices for consumers, particularly small businesses, increasing cost pressures in 2025-26. Over the medium term, overall electricity demand is forecast to swell because of factors like higher electrification, electric vehicle usage and increased hydrogen fuel production. Although industry revenue is projected to dip through 2029-30, promising demand trends, driven by population and household growth, will alleviate some of the impacts of revenue declines, signifying a complex yet optimistic outlook for electricity retailers. Revenue is forecast to marginally decline at an annualised 1.0% through the end of 2029-30, to total $48.0 billion.

The assumption of expected profit-maximizing bidding behavior in a multi-unit, multi-period auction with step-function supply curves is used to estimate cost functions for electricity generation units and derive tests of expected profit-maximizing behavior. Applying these techniques to data from the National Electricity Market in Australia reveals statistically significant evidence of output-dependent marginal costs within and across half-hours of the day, but no evidence against the hypothesis of expected profit-maximizing behavior. These cost function estimates quantify the economic significance of output-varying costs and how forward financial contract obligations impact the amount of these costs the generation unit owner incurs. This supplier's existing obligations imply average daily production costs that are 8% lower than the profit-maximizing pattern of output with no forward contract obligations.

Hydro generators are dealing with volatile global and domestic energy markets, which has compelled regulators and governments to step in and stabilise the National Electricity Market (NEM) to ensure a stable electricity supply. In 2021-22 and 2022-23, global energy markets underwent significant turmoil as coal and gas prices soared. This flowed through to wholesale market prices, bolstering hydro generators' profit since they don't face the fossil fuel input costs that plague other generators. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, electricity wholesale prices plummeted amid weak domestic demand for electricity, which drove steep declines in annual revenue in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Prices have seen further volatility, which has led to sharp revenue fluctuations. Revenue is expected to increase at an annualised 10.0% over five years through 2024-25, to $1.9 billion. This includes an anticipated surge of 33.9% in 2024-25 as hydro generators are expected to garner stronger prices on the spot market. In recent decades, large-scale hydropower has received subdued attention from investors and governments, stemming from geographic and cost constraints. However, more recently, hydro-electric technology is undergoing a revival as Australia transitions away from emissions-intensive generation fuels. A spate of major coal-fired stations are retiring, including the Liddell power station, which retired in 2023 after 52 years of operation. Pumped hydro has become increasingly attractive to investors in this context because it provides valuable long-duration storage that can balance the intermittent nature of solar and wind power. Public and private investment in pumped hydro is an important step in weaning the supply chain off fossil fuels. However, to fully unlock renewable technologies, transmission infrastructure will be needed to transport electricity around the country. Tasmania is the nation's leading hydro-electricity generator, so transmission links, like the proposed Marinus Link project, will be vital for balancing output in other regions of the NEM. Yet even with sharp increases in capacity, the industry will remain highly vulnerable to fluctuating prices, which is likely to limit revenue growth over the coming years. Industry revenue is forecast to grow at an annualised 2.7% over the five years through 2029-30, to $2.1 billion.

Coal rose to 112 USD/T on July 11, 2025, up 0.90% from the previous day. Over the past month, Coal's price has risen 7.07%, but it is still 16.32% lower than a year ago, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Coal - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on July of 2025.

The Aluminium Smelting industry's performance has improved in recent years. Exports continue to take up over 85% of industry revenue as rising export prices place upwards pressure on industry revenue. Recovering demand from major domestic markets over recent years has further seen revenue grow as the low value-to-weight ratio of industry products typically makes high-volume imports uneconomical. Overall, industry revenue is expected to rise at an annualised 2.0% over the five years through 2023-24, to $6.78 billion. This includes an anticipated rise of 5.2% in the current year.Australia is the world's largest producer of major industry inputs like bauxite and is a substantial producer of alumina, giving producers consistent and secure supply of major inputs. However, the country ranks lower in global aluminium output, with China being the leading producer. Bauxite mining, alumina production and aluminium smelting industries are connected along the same supply chain. Industry operators use energy-intensive processes to smelt aluminium from alumina, which has been previously extracted from bauxite ore. Due to the energy-intensive nature of this process, profit has declined over recent years due to inflated energy costs arising from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Aluminium prices have been volatile and increased significantly, limiting profit margin decline. Energy costs have been similarly volatile, with wholesale electricity prices increasing rapidly.The Aluminium Smelting industry is projected to grow over the next few years with industry revenue forecast to rise at an annualised 0.1% through 2028-29, to $6.8 billion. Australia's rising population is likely to place pressure on existing systems and expand demand for industry products and downstream manufacturing. These trends are projected to boost industry revenue, as new construction and manufacturing will raise demand for aluminium smelting and casting alike. Major players are further forecast to increasingly shift to green energy in order to cut down on emissions and energy costs. The industry is likely to face stronger competition from overseas manufacturers, although imports are likely to remain weak in comparison to exports.