Commodity Demand — NSW1: Monday 20 April 2026

NSW spot price sits at $87.51/MWh with demand at 7,568 MW as of 06:30 AEST, tracking the evening ramp that began around 05:00 AEST. The demand trajectory today follows a textbook autumn weekday profile: an overnight trough of approximately 5,260 MW around 13:25 AEST, a morning peak of 9,124 MW at 18:25 AEST, a midday plateau in the 7,700–8,400 MW range through the 19:00–23:00 AEST window, and an afternoon shoulder settling near 6,300–6,600 MW between 03:00 and 07:00 AEST. Price sensitivity to demand shifts is pronounced at the top of the curve — the morning peak above 9,000 MW produced sustained pricing between $84–$120/MWh, while the overnight trough at 5,260 MW corresponded to prices as low as $0.88/MWh, illustrating roughly a 10:1 price-to-demand elasticity across the full swing.

The current 7,568 MW reading sits on the ascending leg of today's evening ramp, and the price response is already materialising — the spot has moved from $65.50/MWh at 04:30 AEST to $87.51/MWh now, a 33% lift on a demand increase of roughly 1,080 MW in two hours. Forecast pricing for the 07:00 AEST half-hour (21:00 UTC) has converged tightly to $76.99/MWh across the most recent dispatch runs, suggesting the market expects demand to plateau and pricing to ease slightly as the evening ramp flattens. The 07:30 AEST forecast sits in the $84–$86/MWh range across available runs, indicating a brief price firming before an expected overnight retreat.

Several early morning intervals today — spanning 00:05 through 07:20 AEST (10:05 UTC through 17:20 UTC) — are subject to AEMO Manifestly Incorrect Inputs review under NER clause 3.9.2B. Two intervals (03:25 AEST and 12:45 AEST yesterday) have been confirmed unchanged following review. Traders should note the volume of outstanding reviews across the overnight period; while prices have been confirmed unchanged for tested intervals so far, the breadth of notices warrants monitoring for any retrospective settlement adjustments that could affect position reconciliation for contracts covering that window.

Load-shifting opportunities are well-defined for today: the overnight valley between approximately 08:30 and 12:30 AEST (22:30–02:30 UTC) carries forecast prices predominantly below $10/MWh and in some modelled runs into negative territory, consistent with the load window data showing demand-flexible consumers able to access prices under $5/MWh across multiple half-hours in that band. Carbon intensity at the latest read is 0.8102 tCO2/MWh with renewables at 7.93%, reflecting the post-solar evening mix with wind at 111 MW and solar contributing 70 MW against 5,108 MW of black coal and 600 MW of hydro.