Commodity Demand — NSW1: Sunday 19 April 2026

NSW spot price sits at $122.20/MWh with total demand at 7,539 MW as of 06:30 AEST, and demand is climbing sharply through the morning peak. The price-demand relationship today is textbook: the grid cleared overnight at negative prices — troughing near -$6/MWh around 01:15–01:30 AEST with demand at its daily floor of roughly 3,750–3,850 MW — before snapping to triple digits as demand surged through the pre-dawn ramp. The transition from sub-zero to $120+/MWh territory occurred in under 90 minutes between approximately 05:45 and 07:15 AEST as demand climbed from ~5,650 MW to over 7,800 MW, illustrating how tightly price responds to demand on the steep portion of the supply stack in April's cooler morning conditions.

The morning peak demand reached 8,523 MW at 08:20 AEST, sustaining prices in the $88–$122/MWh range through the 08:00–10:00 AEST window. Demand has since moderated through the midday period to the low 7,000s MW, pulling prices back to the $77–$98/MWh band. The evening demand build is now underway, with demand climbing from ~6,238 MW at 18:05 AEST back toward the current 7,539 MW, and price has responded in kind — rising from ~$97/MWh at 18:00 AEST through to the current $122.20/MWh print. The sensitivity is clear: each 1,000 MW demand increment above ~7,000 MW in this period corresponds to roughly $20–$40/MWh of additional price pressure.

The near-term forecast points to a step-down. AEMO forecasts for the 07:00 AEST half-hour (21:00 UTC) are centred around $98–$109/MWh from the most recent pre-dispatch runs, down from the current $122.20/MWh, consistent with demand pulling back from its current evening ramp. By 07:30 AEST (21:30 UTC), forecasts cluster at $99–$105/MWh, suggesting the market anticipates demand easing as the evening peak passes. Traders should note that the early-morning intervals from approximately 15:25–06:30 AEST are subject to active AEMO review for Manifestly Incorrect Inputs under Clause 3.9.2B — prices across those intervals remain unconfirmed and could be revised, which is material for any positions settled against those dispatch intervals.

Today's demand profile follows a classic autumn weekday shape: a deep overnight trough, a sharp pre-dawn ramp driven by heating demand (ambient temperature at 8.4°C, heating demand index at 9.6), a broad morning peak plateau above 8,000 MW, a midday softening, and a renewed evening build now approaching its crest. With no solar generation active and wind contributing only ~98 MW, thermal capacity is setting price across all high-demand intervals. Flexible load operators and battery participants with positions in the 06:30–08:00 AEST window face settlement uncertainty given the active market notices; confirmation of those prices will be the key data point to monitor through the morning.