Commodity Demand — VIC1: Friday 24 April 2026

Victoria's spot price sits at -$8.89/MWh at 06:30 AEST with demand at 4,111 MW — well below the overnight peak and tracking a Saturday morning profile consistent with reduced commercial and industrial activity. The price-demand relationship today has been textbook: demand peaked around 18:00–19:00 AEST at roughly 6,055 MW with prices in the $60–$78/MWh range, then fell sharply through the evening as demand retreated toward the 3,800–4,100 MW band, dragging prices negative from around 21:30 AEST onward. That demand decline of approximately 2,250 MW over seven hours is the dominant driver of the sustained negative pricing now in place.

The generation mix at 06:30 AEST — wind 1,518 MW, brown coal 1,056 MW, gas OCGT 137 MW, hydro 16 MW, with solar at zero — illustrates the supply-side dynamic reinforcing low prices. With solar yet to contribute and wind running at scale into a demand trough, the market is clearing below zero as inflexible and low-marginal-cost plant competes for load. Carbon intensity sits at 0.505 tCO2/MWh with renewables at 56.27% of the mix, a material improvement from the 0.95 tCO2/MWh recorded during the morning peak period when demand was highest and the generation mix tilted more heavily toward coal.

The forward price outlook for the remainder of today points to continued negative or near-zero pricing through the overnight trough, with AEMO pre-dispatch forecasts consistently in the -$3.50 to -$3.55/MWh range for the 07:00–08:00 AEST window. Load window data projects the deepest negative prices — as low as -$202/MWh in some forecast runs — around the 13:00–14:00 AEST period (UTC+11 equivalent), which aligns with peak solar generation compressing the net demand profile on this low-demand Saturday. The morning demand ramp from roughly 3,300 MW at the overnight trough toward an expected Saturday daytime plateau in the 4,500–5,500 MW range will be the key variable; if demand recovery is slower than forecast, negative pricing periods will extend further into the morning.

Demand-side participants and flexible industrial loads have a clear opportunity today. The load window analysis rates the 08:30–15:00 AEST block as excellent across all forecast runs, with average settlement prices in the -$50 to -$90/MWh range across multiple dispatch intervals. The absence of any Victorian-specific market notices — the active AEMO notices relate solely to the Mudgeeraba–Terranora contingency reclassification in QLD1 — means no network constraints are currently distorting VIC1 pricing, and the negative price signal is a clean market outcome from the demand-supply balance.