Thursday’s electricity price reached a year maximum at 546.18 lei per MWh on the Spot market of the OPCOM Energy Exchange, for the interval 19.00-20.00. The price for Friday, for the same interval, is 521 lei per MWh, shows data from the operator’s website.

As the average price over the entire interval (1-24) – DAM Base, it decreased by 7% on Friday from the day before, from 325 lei per MWh, to 302 lei per MWh. A month ago the average price was 282 lei (7% increase in a month), while at the end of July, the reference was 183.18 lei per MWh. The difference to this reference is over 65%; an equally steep increase is registered against the reference level one year ago – on September 28, 2017, the price per MWh was 181.57 lei.

At the same time, the average price in Romania (64.87 euro per MWh) is not the largest among the countries with which the spot market is coupled. In Hungary, it was 65.58 euro per MWh, in Slovakia 64.62 euro per MWh, and in the Czech Republic – 52.22 euro per MWh. The only hourly interval with a significant difference is 19.00-20.00 when the price in Romania is over 110 euro per MWh (as in Hungary), and the nearest one is in Slovakia (90 euros per MWh).

By way of example, Transelectrica data for Thursday, September 27, shows how national demand is rising rapidly from 19.00 to reach a maximum between 20.00 and 21.00. Imports cover the sudden demand – at maximum price levels near 7 p.m., during the interval needed for Hidroelectrica to gradually increase its production to meet demand. Throughout the day, imported physical volumes equaled the exported volumes.