‘World of pain’: warnings of gas shortages amid soaring power prices add to Australia’s energy woes

Australia’s energy woes are mounting with the market operator warning of potential gas supply shortages on Thursday, one of the largest generators issuing a profit warning and more retailers turning away customers as wholesale power prices soar.

pot power prices soared towards $1,000 per megawatt hour in most of the east coast grid after an alert – later cancelled – that Victoria was facing evening reserve shortages.



More concerning, though, was a separate warning by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) that it had identified a possible shortfall of gas supplies in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania on Thursday amid an burst of cold weather.

The potential gap was due to low reserve conditions linked to pipeline capacity “or market conditions and generators running on liquid fuel due to lack of gas supply”, Aemo said. The regulator is convening a conference of relevant parties to assess the issues.