On Monday, October 26, Serbia recorded Southeast Europe’s highest day-ahead electricity price, at €285.08/MWh, as weekday demand returned across the region. Prices rose sharply in most markets, tightening conditions after the weekend. The day-ahead electricity market saw North Macedonia close just below Serbia, at €284.87/MWh.
Romania rose almost €40 to €271.92/MWh, while Hungary reached €267.40/MWh, Bulgaria €263.39/MWh and Greece €258.52/MWh. Croatia, Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Montenegro were grouped at lower prices of around €238–243/MWh. Montenegro’s price was €238.55/MWh.
Day-on-day increases were broad: Croatia gained €39.2/MWh, Romania €39.9, Slovenia €39.1, Bulgaria €33.8 and Greece €31.1. Hungary’s rise was smaller, at €8.1/MWh, while Montenegro increased by €19/MWh. The main shift in fundamentals was the return of working-day demand following the weekend.
Higher demand coincides with increased regional generation
Consumption across Hungary and the monitored Southeast European markets climbed to 31,816 MW, up 3,174 MW, or about 11%, from Sunday. Despite the increase in demand, regional net imports fell by 336 MW to 4,648 MW. Imports from Austria and Slovakia eased slightly to 4,632 MW.
Total regional generation rose from 23,657 MW on Sunday to 27,168 MW on Monday, an increase of about 3.5 GW that more than matched the rise in consumption. The higher prices therefore cannot be attributed simply to a worsening aggregate supply-demand balance. The data instead point to weekday peak-load pricing, alongside ongoing cross-border constraints and costly marginal generation in the eastern part of the interconnected market.
Serbia maintains a clear regional price premium
Serbia’s SEEPEX base-load price of €285.08/MWh was about €18/MWh above Hungary, €22/MWh above Bulgaria, €27/MWh above Greece and €44/MWh above Italy’s national price. Prices remained elevated across the day rather than being confined to a few evening hours. The market low was €220/MWh, and the high reached €375.1/MWh in hour 18.
Peak-load power averaged €283.7/MWh, compared with €286.5/MWh for off-peak electricity. North Macedonia’s base-load price was almost identical, at €284.87/MWh, creating a high-price pocket in the two markets above the larger Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian markets.
The Serbian premium is significant for traders because the market was priced materially above both Hungary and the western Balkans. Where transmission capacity is available, that spread can create cross-border trading opportunities; it also increases the cost of physical supply for Serbian utilities, suppliers and industrial consumers exposed to day-ahead procurement.
German recovery does little to close the east-west price gap
German day-ahead electricity rose from €13.7/MWh on Sunday to €116.57/MWh on Monday, a rebound of almost €103/MWh. Hungary nevertheless remained €150.83/MWh more expensive than Germany. The Hungary–Germany spread narrowed sharply from about €245.6/MWh a day earlier, mainly because German prices recovered rather than because prices in Central and Southeast Europe fell.
The price gap remains a clear sign of regional market fragmentation. Hungary continued to serve as a major transit market between cheaper Central European supply and tighter eastern markets. Commercial schedules showed substantial Hungarian imports from Austria and Slovakia, alongside flows east towards Romania.
Hungary-to-Romania base-load flows reached about 1,684 MW, including around 1,920 MW during peak hours. The pattern shows why lower-priced German generation does not automatically bring equally low prices in Southeast Europe: cross-border capacity and the configuration of regional flows determine how much western supply can reach deficit markets.
Bulgaria shifts from net exporter to importer
Bulgaria’s consumption increased to 4,219 MW, while generation stood at 3,931 MW. The country consequently became a net importer of about 288 MW, compared with net exports of 217 MW on Sunday. The IBEX price rose to €263.39/MWh, adding to the higher-price structure stretching from Romania and Bulgaria through Serbia and North Macedonia.
The shift matters because Bulgaria often serves as a generation and transit hub for the southern Balkans. A move from export availability to import demand removes supply that could otherwise help limit prices elsewhere in the region.
Albania moves against the regional increase
Albania was the main exception to the upward regional trend. ALPEX fell by €105.1/MWh from Sunday to €214.76/MWh, leaving the country more than €70/MWh below Serbia. The divergence was evident across the Albanian price curve.
Peak electricity averaged €213.4/MWh and off-peak electricity €216.1/MWh, with prices ranging from €131/MWh to €325/MWh. The sharp move in the opposite direction from most regional markets highlights the sensitivity of individual Balkan bidding zones to local balances, cross-border schedules and available transmission capacity.
Forward prices and fuel costs remain elevated
The forward curve also strengthened. Hungarian week 44 power rose €14/MWh to €279.50/MWh, while week 45 climbed €23/MWh to €294.50/MWh. November power gained €17/MWh to €272.50/MWh.
Fuel markets remained expensive, with CEGH gas at €95.11/MWh, November gas at €95.50/MWh and EU carbon allowances at €86.26/t. Coal forwards also moved higher. These forward-market changes indicate that Monday’s increase was not being treated solely as a one-day rebound from weekend demand.
For Southeast European market participants, a key signal is that the eastern European high-price zone persisted despite stronger regional generation and lower aggregate net imports. Serbia at €285/MWh, North Macedonia at a similar level and Hungary still €151/MWh above Germany show the importance of cross-border constraints and regional marginal pricing relative to the broader European supply picture.
Until those spreads narrow materially, transmission capacity access, generation availability and hourly positioning between Central Europe and the Balkans are likely to remain dominant drivers of short-term Southeast European trading economics.
