Load Advisor: Saturday 1 August 2026

The overnight-to-early-morning window offers the best NEM-wide load shifting opportunity today, with SA1 posting the deepest discount at -$61.71/MWh around 04:30-05:00 AEST — a saving of up to $159/MWh versus this evening's peak. VIC1 and SA1 both show sustained negative pricing from roughly 01:30 through 07:00 AEST, driven by low overnight demand and minimal load, while QLD1 and NSW1 sit near $0/MWh across similar hours. TAS1 offers smaller but consistent savings around -$10/MWh through the same window. Flexible load scheduled between 02:00 and 06:00 AEST captures the cheapest prices in every region bar minor timing variations.

Peak periods to avoid emerge from mid-morning through early evening. NSW1 and QLD1 both climb into the $85-97/MWh range between 08:30 and 12:00 AEST, with QLD1 holding near $91-92/MWh for a sustained four-hour stretch. SA1 shows a sharp midday spike to $101.02/MWh at 12:00 AEST, an isolated peak worth avoiding even though surrounding hours are comparatively mild. NSW1 also carries a secondary evening peak near $70-74/MWh around 18:30-19:30 AEST as heating demand picks up under cold, cloudy conditions (6.9°C, 96% cloud cover) that suppress solar output.

VIC1 stands out for the strongest and most persistent savings opportunity today, with forecast prices remaining negative or near-zero from late morning right through until 19:00 AEST, reflecting light wind (12.8 km/h) but clear skies (1% cloud) supporting solar generation into the middle of the day. This gives Victorian flexible load — EV charging, pumped hydro fill, industrial process load — a wider window than other regions, extending well beyond the typical overnight trough.

For NEM-wide scheduling, the recommended action is to shift flexible load into the 02:00-06:00 AEST window across all regions, prioritising SA1 and VIC1 for maximum savings given their deeper negative pricing. Where operations allow, Victorian loads can extend flexibility into the 10:00-18:00 AEST band given persistently low forecast prices there. NSW1 and QLD1 operators should avoid scheduling material load between 08:00 and 12:00 AEST, and SA1 should specifically avoid the 12:00 AEST spike. Loads locked into the overnight window across NSW1, QLD1, SA1, and VIC1 will each save $90-160/MWh relative to today's peak pricing.