Load Advisor: Sunday 31 May 2026

NEM-wide spot prices are moderate at the 6:25 AEST reference point — QLD1 leads at $92.73/MWh, NSW1 at $79/MWh, TAS1 at $87.18/MWh, VIC1 at $69.95/MWh, and SA1 at $60.07/MWh. The overnight and early-morning predispatch windows tell a sharply different story: NSW1 prices will fall to near zero or below (as low as $0.01–$0.97/MWh) between 11:00 AEST and 15:30 AEST, with multiple intervals going negative through to 16:00 AEST. VIC1 similarly prints at or near zero from 12:30 AEST through 16:00 AEST, with several intervals at –$1.22 to –$1.94/MWh. SA1 follows the same overnight pattern, hitting near-zero and sub-zero prices (-$1.02 to -$2.12/MWh) through a sustained window from 12:30 AEST to 16:00 AEST. QLD1 also drops sharply, with intervals as low as $0.01/MWh from 11:00–15:30 AEST, and sub-zero prints (-$1.02 to -$2.41/MWh) from 15:30–16:00 AEST. TAS1 is the outlier: prices remain anchored in the $70–$84/MWh range throughout the forecast horizon and offer no comparable low-cost opportunity.

The primary avoidance window is 06:00–08:00 AEST (17:00–19:00 UTC) today. QLD1 predispatch pricing will surge back to $54–$90/MWh at 16:30 AEST and escalate to $109–$130/MWh by 17:00–17:30 AEST as the winter evening demand peak arrives — among the highest forecast prices on the NEM today. NSW1 predispatch is flat in the $37–$44/MWh band through the overnight period before also recovering toward morning business-hours pricing. Flexible loads in QLD1 face the steepest exposure at the peak: shifting even a modest industrial load of 1 MW away from the 17:00–17:30 AEST window and into the 11:00–15:30 AEST trough represents a saving of approximately $80–$130/MWh per interval.

The strongest NEM-wide load-shifting opportunity concentrates in the 11:00–15:30 AEST window (01:00–05:30 UTC), where NSW1, VIC1, SA1, and QLD1 all converge at near-zero or negative prices simultaneously — a rare and high-value alignment. VIC1 and SA1 savings are forecast in the $199–$201/MWh range against current reference prices during this window. NSW1 savings reach $262–$273/MWh, and QLD1 savings peak at $989–$992/MWh against that region's current $92.73/MWh spot, reflecting the scale of the evening peak that must be avoided. Operators with flexible industrial, cold-storage, pumping, or battery charging loads in NSW, VIC, SA, and