An Australian government regulator has taken over management of the grid for the Eastern half of the country (Western Australia is different) after an attempt to impose a price cap turned a bad situation worse. The main reason for the price cap is that coal and gas prices have gone through the roof, and a number of aging conventional (ie, coal) generators have fallen out of the market due to either planned maintenance, or some fault - as a result prices were surging far above  $A1000 (about $US7