In a bid to blunt even bigger possible bill rises, state and federal governments in December imposed 12-month caps on the domestic price of black coal to reduce the cost of running power stations and keep a lid on wholesale prices.

AEMO’s new report shows large power stations that burn black coal made more bids to supply the grid at lower prices during the quarter following the passage of emergency caps.

“Black coal generators in NSW and Queensland have increased offer volumes in lower price bands following the announced caps on thermal coal prices, which has decreased the average price set by black coal generators,” Westerman said.

Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said the latest figures from AEMO demonstrated that the government’s energy price relief plan was working.

“While we aren’t out of the woods yet, the government intervention has delivered wholesale electricity prices this quarter that are not only lower than their peaks during the winter energy crisis, but lower than what the Coalition left us with after 10 years of denial and delay,” he said.

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“We know Australian households and businesses are feeling the cost-of-living crunch, and the government is continuing to act, providing targeted energy bill relief for households and businesses, and driving investment in cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable energy in the upcoming budget.”

Electricity futures contracts for the next financial year – those bought by retailers and large customers to lock in power supplies at a later date – averaged $107 a megawatt-hour, a decrease of $55 on the prior quarter.

Westerman said the March quarter statistics had reinforced the urgent need for greater investment in building more critical transmission infrastructure to better-enable the flow of cheap renewable electricity across the country, especially from the southern states into the north.

“This is clear with the projects in Victoria’s Murray River renewable energy zone that are burdened with generation impacts,” he said.

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