Australian Electricity Demand Rises to Record on Cold Weather

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Australia experienced record demand for electricity late yesterday as cold weather swept across the most-populous southeastern states.

Demand on the national electricity market reached 34,416 megawatts at 6:30 p.m. local time yesterday, about 3 percent higher than the previous record of 33,352 megawatts, set July 17 last year, Paul Bird, a spokesman for the National Electricity Market Management Co. said today. Demand in New South Wales, the most-populous state, also reached a record, he said.

Yesterday was one of the coldest days this winter for much of southern and eastern parts of Australia, Weatherzone, a weather news and forecasting service, said on its Web site. Penrith and Liverpool, west of Sydney, had their coldest day in two years, while Adelaide, the South Australian capital, had its second-coldest morning in 20 years at 1 degree Celsius (34 Fahrenheit), it said.

New South Wales power demand peaked at 14,289 megawatts at 6:30 p.m. yesterday, topping the previous record of 13,871 megawatts on July 17 last year, Bird said by telephone from Melbourne. There was still about 15 percent spare capacity in the system at the peak period, he said.

The peak demand pushed up spot electricity prices, which were still well below their A$10,000 ($9,580) a megawatt- hour upper limit. New South Wales prices reached about A$180 a megawatt-hour at 7 p.m. yesterday, while the price in Queensland, which would have been supplying power into New South Wales to the south, peaked at about A$280, Bird said.

Prices reached about A$150 in Victoria state, A$160 in South Australia and A$130 in Tasmania, Bird said. Tasmania, Australia's island state, experienced record power demand on July 21 of 1,790 megawatts, Bird said.

Western Australia and the Northern Territory aren't part of Australia's national electricity market, which links about 7.7 million customers in the eastern and southern states. The National Electricity Market Management Co. is operator of the wholesale power market.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net