Finally, in a first for CEDEX®, Figure 4 wholesale prices, specifically monthly median NEM regional spot prices (termed pool prices) in each NEM region (state) since the introduction of a price on greenhouse gas emissions in July 2012. The median price is a better measure of the general level of prices than the mean, because it minimises the effect of short term very high price spikes. These sometimes reach to over $10,000 per MWh, or 200 times the values shown in Figure 4, and so, even if short‐lived, can disproportionately affect means. These price spikes are also the occasions when most wholesale trades occur at spot prices, rather than at hedged contract prices, which are used for the majority of trades between generators and retailers. The median is generally a fairly good approximation to hedge contract prices. The key feature of this Figure is the steady fall in prices in all mainland NEM states since the middle of 2013. Note that the short periods of very high prices in January had no impact on median prices. In April, median prices net of the carbon price were about $28 per MWh for coal fired generators in NSW and Queensland, and below $20 per MWh for Victorian brown coal generators. It goes without saying that such prices are way below what would be required to build a new coal or gas fired power station.
