It bears repeating, ad nausea, consumers respond to retail prices.
So now that we have cheaper daytime tariffs, combined with home batteries, consumers are demanding more energy in the middle of the day. This has changed in about a year.
And not a little. That whole window is “normally” a trough that has AEMO worried about minimum demand being so low coal generators struggle to get lower – in the wholesale market resulting in negative prices because some generators cannot afford to back off their production.
But now, in just over a year of the Cheaper Home Batteries program and a few months of the “solar sharer” tariff (that many retailers already had their own version of), that low retail price starting at 11AM has consumers changing their behaviour, and in numbers dramatically changing wholesale market dynamics.
What do you care? In the wholesale market, maybe not a lot. In the policy that unlocked the home battery market, and innovative tariffs, quite a lot.
The golden rule of electricity bills is shop around. Now that includes what different structured tariff can you use, by modifying some of your behaviour, that will reduce your bills.
It takes a bit more effort to compare – part of the electrify your home and your life theme we at ECAM are promoting.
See RenewEconomy reporting on this LinkedIn post by and Hamish McKensie