Power shortages could hit eastern Australia as energy market operator scrambles to avoid outages

NSW energy minister Matt Kean said he was confident the state’s electricity market would weather another cold day without consumers having to turn down their appliances to avoid blackouts and power outages. Photograph: fullvalue/Getty Images

Eastern Australia has faced another day of electricity shortages requiring regulators to order generators back into the market to avoid power outages and blackouts as a long cold snap rolls on.

Each of the five states in the national electricity market (Nem) – from Queensland to Tasmania – had a forecast shortfall of electricity, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) on Tuesday.