CACE combines electricity price and grid carbon intensity into a single metric — so procurement, sustainability, and finance teams are all optimising the same signal.
Energy procurement and sustainability reporting are usually optimised separately. Procurement chases the lowest $/MWh; sustainability tracks tCO₂/MWh. The two objectives pull in different directions depending on the market — low prices often correlate with high emissions intensity, and vice versa.
The Carbon-Adjusted Cost of Energy (CACE) resolves this by combining both dimensions into a single comparable index. It weights the current spot price against current grid carbon intensity and a carbon cost parameter, producing a number that is directly comparable across intervals, regions, and time periods.
The result: procurement, sustainability, and finance teams can operate from the same view without needing to reconcile competing optimisation criteria in a spreadsheet.
CACE weights the current spot price against current grid carbon intensity and a configurable carbon value to produce a single comparable index. Instead of tracking $/MWh and tCO₂/MWh separately and trying to reconcile them in a meeting, both teams see the same signal.
gridIQ recalculates CACE at every 5-minute NEM dispatch interval and every 30-minute WEM trading interval. Carbon intensity is derived from the live generation mix, not an annual average — so the metric reflects actual grid conditions.
CACE varies across regions based on generation mix and spot price. A region with cheap spot prices but a coal-heavy generation mix will have a different CACE profile to a region with higher prices but stronger renewable penetration.
Ask Watt for the current CACE in any region, the historical CACE trend for a specific period, or the optimal operating window by CACE over the next 24 hours. The Load Shift Advisor uses CACE to generate load-shift recommendations.
Load Shift Advisor — CACE is the primary optimisation signal for load-shift window recommendations. When CACE is low, the window is cost-efficient and carbon-light. When CACE is high, it is expensive and emissions-intensive — the right time to curtail or shift flexible load.
Watt AI — Ask Watt to compare CACE across regions to find the best operating window across a distributed portfolio, or to explain why CACE spiked during a recent event.
Scope 2 Tracker — CACE provides context for time-matched market-based Scope 2 figures by surfacing the cost-emissions tradeoff at each consumption interval.
CACE is included on every paid gridIQ plan. Start a 21-day Professional trial — no credit card required.