Today we've published a report on three events where there were market operator service (MOS) payments greater than $250,000 in the Sydney Short Term Trading Market (STTM).
These events were on 28 November, 14 December and 20 December 2024, where MOS payments in the Sydney STTM were $1,029,768, $305,683, and $322,998 respectively.
The key contributing factors to these high service payments were:
- Reduced pressure levels in the Sydney distribution network (28 November)
- Market participants over forecasting demand (14 and 20 December)
- Low pipeline flows (14 December and an influencing factor on 20 December)
- Participants renominating supply between two pipelines (14 December and an influencing factor on 20 December).
The AER’s investigations into these events has not raised any immediate concerns given their unique circumstances, and the AER has not detected any non-compliance with the National Gas Rules.
Prior to the events in November to December 2024, the reporting threshold has been triggered 8 times in the past 11 years, making high priced MOS events infrequent.
Background
The AER reports on significant price variations in the Sydney Short Term Trading market above $250,000 under the AER STTM Significant Price Variation Guideline reporting requirement.
The AER investigates significant price variations as they may indicate that the gas markets are operating in an inefficient way. The efficient functioning of gas markets allows consumers and industry to be supplied with the least cost and reliable gas.
This report is published in accordance with the requirements under Rule 498 of Part 19 of the National Gas Rules.