Until 1992 the supply of electricity in Australia was predominantly by monopoly government or government franchised organizations. Following the Council of Australian Government direction a transition occurred towards a competitive market. This transition is not complete.

While the transition to competition has been relatively successful in reducing electricity prices there have developed a number of inconsistencies. The multiplicity of federal and state regulators and their overlapping jurisdictions have become a source of uncertainty in an industry that is long term and requires certainty to invest in plant for the following 40 years.

This paper looks at reserve margin, greenhouse commitments and the regulation of the electricity market in three terms, immediate to 2006, the medium term to the end of the Kyoto period 2012 and a longer term to 2020.
 
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