Potential Market Power in the Australian Electricity Market
22 June 2011
By Greg Houston and Adrian Kemp et. al
A NERA team was commissioned by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) to consider concerns expressed by major energy users that electricity generators were misusing their market power to charge excessive wholesale prices during times of high demand. NERA's report describes the economic concept of market power and how it should be applied to wholesale electricity generation markets. It also considers the appropriate geographic and time dimensions of the market for the purposes of assessing users' allegations. The AEMC accepted and adopted the report's conclusions, and released NERA's advice along with its Directions Paper on 22 September 2011.
