Current price: $111.60/MWh · Updated
WA1 · WEM, 30-min trading intervals
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Western Australia operates the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM), a separate market from the NEM that covers the South West Interconnected System (SWIS). The WEM is operated by AEMO but uses 30-minute trading intervals rather than the NEM's five-minute dispatch intervals, and has a significantly lower price cap of approximately $324 per MWh compared to the NEM's $17,500 per MWh.
Gas-fired generation is the dominant fuel source in the WEM, reflecting Western Australia's abundant natural gas reserves. However, wind and solar capacity are growing steadily, and rooftop solar is increasingly influencing daytime demand patterns across the SWIS.
As the WEM is not interconnected with the NEM, Western Australia's electricity prices are determined entirely by local supply and demand dynamics, making the market particularly sensitive to gas prices, planned generation outages, and extreme weather events.
For background on how the wholesale market sets these prices, see our wholesale electricity guide or the WA price history. When prices spike, the negative-price explainer covers the renewables-driven downside.
The Western Australian wholesale electricity price is set by AEMO every 30 minutes as part of the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM), which covers the South West Interconnected System (SWIS). The live price and 24-hour chart are shown above.
WA prices typically rise when gas-fired generation availability is reduced, since gas supplies the majority of WEM output and the WEM has no interconnection to import electricity from other regions.
The WEM sets a new trading price every 30 minutes, giving 48 trading intervals per day, compared to the NEM’s 5-minute dispatch intervals.
The WEM sets the trading price for each 30-minute interval by matching generator bids to forecast demand across the SWIS, capped at approximately $324/MWh, well below the NEM’s $17,500/MWh cap. Because the WEM has no interconnection to import from other regions, gas-fired generation availability is the main driver of that price.