Load Advisor: Friday 26 June 2026

Across the NEM, spot prices are currently elevated on a cold Saturday evening — NSW1 leads at $120/MWh with 7,959 MW of demand, followed by VIC1 at $115/MWh and SA1 at $112/MWh. QLD1 sits lower at $94/MWh against 6,029 MW, while TAS1 is the cheapest interconnected region at $79/MWh. Predispatch shows prices will climb further tonight before easing: NSW1 will spike to $183/MWh at 09:00 AEST, VIC1 to $219/MWh at 19:30 AEST, SA1 to $195/MWh at 19:30 AEST, and QLD1 to $212/MWh at 19:30 AEST. The morning peak window — roughly 17:00–20:30 AEST across the mainland — is the primary period to avoid for any flexible load.

QLD1 offers the strongest load shifting opportunity on the NEM today. Prices will fall to $54–60/MWh between 10:30 and 13:30 AEST (00:30–03:30 UTC), a saving of up to $152/MWh against today's peak. That overnight trough is exceptionally deep relative to QLD1's peak exposure and represents the widest spread of any region. VIC1 will present a secondary overnight window from 12:00–15:30 AEST (02:00–05:30 UTC) with prices averaging $94–100/MWh — a saving of $119–124/MWh versus the evening peak. NSW1's overnight trough runs 14:00–16:30 AEST (04:00–06:30 UTC) at around $109/MWh, modest in absolute terms but still $121/MWh below that region's peak. SA1 carries the most attractive late-afternoon window on today's schedule: prices will ease to $73–80/MWh between 02:30–04:30 AEST Sunday (16:30–18:30 UTC Saturday), the cheapest mainland price forecast for that period. TAS1 offers a stable, flat overnight floor near $79/MWh through to 16:00 AEST, with no meaningful variation — useful for interruptible load but no dramatic spread to exploit. Watch for the isolated spike to $188/MWh at 00:30 AEST Sunday in TAS1; avoid that 30-minute window.

The concrete scheduling recommendation is as follows. QLD1 operators should front-load flexible processes — industrial pre-heating, pumping, cold storage pull-down, EV charging — into the 10:30–13:30 AEST window and hold off entirely from 16:30 AEST onward. VIC1 and NSW1 flexible loads should target the 12:00–16:00 AEST window before the morning ramp begins at 16:00–17:00 AEST. SA1 operators have a dual opportunity: a modest overnight window now (14:00–15:00 AEST, ~$89/MWh) and a stronger late-afternoon window from 02:30–04:30 AEST Sunday (~$75/MWh) — the latter is today's best mainland value in percentage-of-peak terms. Cloud cover is heavy