Spot electricity price nears record highs in Romania as imports exceed 1,000 MW

Electricity prices on the spot stock market has reached a high of 655 lei per MWh on Monday, very close to the absolute record high, with imports of around 1,200 MW, according to an AGERPRES analysis of data with OPCOM and Transelectrica. Thus, the average price of electricity delivered on Monday is 505 lei per MWh, while the highest is 655 lei per MWh, with a peak-hour average of 622 lei. The highest price ever on the spot market was reached on February 1, 2017, in the middle of an extremely cold period that led to huge consumption. At the time, the average daily price was 486 lei per MWh, the highest was 680 lei per MWh, and the peak-hour average was 633 lei, according to the OPCOM archive. This time, Romania is facing a prolonged heat wave, with very small hydro and wind generated energy, which is the cheapest. Thus, according to Transelectrica, consumption in Romania at 10:50hrs on September 2 was 7,410 MW, on an output of 6,219 MW, and imports of 1,190 MW. At the same time, prices in Romania (106.9 euros per MWh on average) are also the highest in the region, more than two times higher than the least expensive market, respectively the Czech Republic (46 euros per MWh). AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Cernat, editor: Oana Tilica; EN -author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)