There'll be blackouts this summer if nothing is done, AEMO report warns
Author: ABC NEWS Date Posted:18 November 2018
Victoria and South Australia are at a high risk of forced blackouts this summer if no action is taken, according to the latest report by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
Key points:
- There is a risk of load-shedding blackouts this summer as companies switch off power due to system risk
- The AEMO has sourced emergency energy to keep up with demand this summer and prevent blackouts
- Emergency energy cost Victorians and South Australians almost $52 million last summer
The AEMO has released its summer outlook plan, which outlines the actions taken to prepare Australia's electricity grid for the summer ahead.
The plan stated there was a heightened risk of load-shedding blackouts in Victoria and South Australia this summer, which happen when power companies start switching off their customers' power supply because the system is at risk.
To stop that from occurring, the AEMO has sourced emergency energy reserves, which are typically not available to the market and are only accessed when supply is not keeping up with demand.
Those emergency reserves — otherwise known as Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader (RERT) resources — do not come cheap.
The report stated that last summer emergency energy cost taxpayers in Victoria and South Australia almost $52 million.
That equated to an average of an extra $6 per household bill.
