One of Wodonga's biggest manufacturers was forced to temporarily halt production on Thursday as power prices reached an untenable level.
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Mars PetCare general manager Barry O'Sullivan said prices were set to jump to more than 1000 per cent of the company's usual rate, so they had no choice but to stop work.
“Due to an anticipated rise in energy costs over [Thursday] afternoon, we made the proactive decision to stop production in cannery and single serve today between 3.30pm and 7.30pm," he said.
"Energy prices over this time period are forecast to be over 1000 per cent above our normal charges, and it just doesn’t make sense for us to run the factory in those conditions.
"We are currently monitoring the situation to determine if it will be necessary to repeat this [on Friday] afternoon."
The Australian Energy Market Operator forecast wholesale energy prices could reach $14,499 per Megawatt Hour on Friday afternoon.
The price spike comes as the Bureau of Meteorology predicts a severe heatwave will spread across Melbourne and southern Victoria.
Another major Border business, Norske Skog, has opted to be a part of an incentivised government scheme where parts of their processes are automatically shutdown when the energy system experiences a surge in usage.
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General manager Milo Foster said the system can trigger an automatic drop out at Norske Skog's pulp operations for a short time when a big energy user comes online or if a generator drops out.
The latest automatic drop-out occurred on Monday, with the pulp system offline for a few minutes.
The hottest Australian summer on record might be over but Border and North East businesses still face the likelihood of surges in power prices.
The Bureau has predicted hot and dry weather will continue into an unseasonably warm autumn on the Border, which will bring little relief to the struggling agricultural industry.
There is a 93 per cent chance Albury-Wodonga will exceed the median autumn temperature and only a 22 per cent chance the region will receive more than 118mm of rain across the three months.
The bureau's Andrew Watkins said it was not the news many were hoping for as autumn was a critical time of year for agriculture.
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