The regulator released its latest report on Thursday, which found electricity prices in the state saw the highest average prices ever for the state and the second highest average of all states recorded to the national energy market in 2015-16.

Tasmanians were paying an average of $97 a megawatt per hour in 2015-16, which the national energy regulator attributed to the Basslink outage and drought conditions.

“Two key factors accounted for this outcome – extended drought conditions, which limited dam storage needed for hydro generation, and a six-month outage on the Basslink interconnector to the mainland,” the report read.

“Tasmania experienced unprecedented drought conditions with record low dam inflows from September 2015 to April 2016. The onset of drought coincided with already low dam levels due to Hydro Tasmania’s decision to raise output in 2012–13 and 2013–14 when carbon pricing made hydrogeneration more profitable.”

The fault in the Basslink interconnector, that occurred on December 20 2015, the state was forced to rely on local generation for power, as it was cut off from the national energy market.

“The average monthly price of output during the Basslink outage ranged from around $110 per MWh in January 2016, to over $250 per MWh in March 2016. These averages compared to prices of around $40 per MWh in the corresponding period in 2015.”

In addition to the outage, extended drought saw the state’s hydro storage levels fall to a low of 13 per cent in April 2016. However sustained rainfall in May and June abruptly returned storage to normal levels.

The rain and dam storage resulted in an ease in electricity prices for Tasmanians.

The drought and Basslink put a halt to substantial growth in exported energy in Tasmania, which had grown during 2012-14 to become the country’s largest net exporter of energy to the national energy market.

The abolition of carbon pricing and declining dam levels reversed this position and during the drought and Basslink outage the state had to rely on importing up to 40 per cent of the state’s energy needs.

With Basslink back in service and hydro storage returning to normal levels, Tasmania returned to a net exporting position in 2016–17.

The report was released on Thursday and broke down the national energy market for the 2015-16 period.