Day-ahead electricity prices across Southeast Europe climbed on 29 October, with most markets exceeding €300/MWh as stronger demand, lower wind generation and costly fuels tightened supply ahead of the evening peak. Serbia’s SEEPEX rose to €330.04/MWh, while Albania recorded the region’s highest average at €366.85/MWh. The price gains reflected tighter market conditions across the region.
SEEPEX increased by €37.4/MWh from the previous session. Montenegro’s price gained €46.4 to €312.80/MWh, while North Macedonia rose €41.1 to €325.80/MWh. Romania settled at €323.76/MWh and Bulgaria at €320.13/MWh.
The rise was broad, but hourly prices indicate that the main pressure came during the evening rather than from a uniform increase throughout the day. Serbian peak-load power averaged €369.7/MWh, and the hourly high reached €500/MWh at H18. The minimum was €205/MWh, leaving few genuinely cheap hours in the Serbian market.
Evening prices spike across the western Balkans
In Montenegro, BELEN’s base price reached €312.80/MWh, while peak-load electricity averaged €347.4/MWh. The hourly maximum climbed to €555.1/MWh at H18, compared with €400/MWh a day earlier. The increase was steeper during the evening than across the day as a whole.
Albania marked the highest end of the tightening market, with ALPEX averaging €366.9/MWh. Peak power reached €392.2/MWh, and the evening maximum hit €600/MWh at H18. The concentration of the highest prices around H18 in Serbia, Montenegro and Albania points to a shared regional squeeze as solar generation fades while evening demand remains high.
Forecast regional consumption averaged 34,054 MW, up 740 MW from the previous day, and net imports increased by 196 MW to 3,886 MW. Solar output was forecast to rise by 360 MW, but wind generation was expected to fall by 436 MW, reducing a major source of flexible renewable supply later in the day. Additional solar generation had limited effect on daily averages because it was concentrated in hours when the system was relatively comfortable, while lower wind output mattered more after solar generation declined.
Greece retains a midday price discount
Greece was the clear exception, with HENEX averaging €238.80/MWh. That was almost €86/MWh below Hungary and more than €91/MWh below Serbia. Greek prices fell to a minimum of €32.3/MWh around H10 before reaching an evening high of €450/MWh at H18.
The hourly profile reflects the increasingly pronounced pricing pattern of a solar-heavy market: very low prices around midday followed by a sharp evening repricing. This left Greece with a large daily discount to the northern Balkans despite facing the same evening tightening.
Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria track central European prices
Central European prices moved closer to those in Southeast Europe. Hungarian HUPX rose by €21.2/MWh to €324.58/MWh, while Germany gained €65.6/MWh to €314.85/MWh. The Hungary-Germany spread narrowed by around €44/MWh in one session, to just €9.73/MWh.
Germany’s hourly maximum reached €559.6/MWh, and HUPX peaked at €526.8/MWh, with both highs occurring around the evening ramp. The move largely erased the large Hungarian premium to Germany seen in previous sessions. Romania and Bulgaria traded €0.82/MWh and €4.45/MWh, respectively, below HUPX.
Serbia remained at a €5.46/MWh premium to Hungary, indicating a slightly tighter balance in Serbia and the western Balkans even after the central European rally. Italy provided a further counterweight, with its national day-ahead price at €278.47/MWh—around €46/MWh below Hungary and more than €34/MWh below Montenegro. Net electricity entering the wider Southeast European balance from Italy rose by 147 MW to around 593 MW, consistent with the economic incentive to move lower-priced Italian power toward the tighter Balkan market.
Forward prices and fuel costs also rise
Forward-market movements indicated that traders were not treating the day-ahead rally as an isolated event. Hungarian Week 45 power rose by €8.5/MWh to €315.50/MWh, Week 46 increased by €7.5 to €304.50/MWh, and the November contract gained €13/MWh to €295.50/MWh. Fuel and carbon costs also increased during the session.
CEGH gas rose by €4.8/MWh to €102.05/MWh, EU carbon allowances climbed to €89.1/t, and November coal advanced to €147.5/t. Greece remains the renewable-discount market during solar hours, while Italy offers a lower-priced western supply source. Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and North Macedonia converged around €320-330/MWh, while Albania can rise sharply above the rest of the region when its balance tightens.
For Serbia and Montenegro, the widening gap between midday and evening prices is a key signal. Electricity is available in the region, but not necessarily in the right market, across the right border or during the required hour. This imbalance, rather than simple annual energy scarcity, is becoming the defining price signal for Southeast European power trading.
More broadly, prices in the day-ahead market reflected rising demand, weaker wind generation and expensive fuel markets as the region approached the evening peak.
