Monday, Oct. 19 saw higher day-ahead power prices across Southeast Europe, with Serbia’s SEEPEX the region’s most expensive market at €300.22/MWh. The Serbian contract rose by €46.3/MWh from Sunday. Hungary’s HUPX followed at €292.39/MWh, up €36.4/MWh, while Romania reached €281.07/MWh.
Bulgaria priced at €279.48/MWh, Albania at €280.60/MWh, North Macedonia at €277.18/MWh, and Montenegro at €276.23/MWh. Croatia settled at €260.47/MWh and Slovenia at €254.49/MWh. Greece remained the cheapest SEE market at €232.43/MWh, increasing by €51.7/MWh on the day.
Regional repricing follows Monday demand recovery
The price move was not limited to Serbia, with every major SEE day-ahead market rising after the weekend. Increases ranged from about €36/MWh in Hungary to nearly €58/MWh in Albania. The main factor was a Monday rebound in electricity demand, with combined Hungary and SEE consumption forecast at 31,426 MW, almost 3 GW higher than Sunday.
At the same time, regional net imports increased by 635 MW to 3,525 MW, indicating that additional domestic generation did not fully cover the load increase. Renewable conditions provided limited support, with solar forecast at 3,800 MW, down 677 MW day on day, and wind expected at 2,412 MW, down 42 MW. Imports from core Central European markets reached 3,431 MW, up another 132 MW.
Southeast Europe balance tightens on higher load and imports
The broader balance figures show tightening between Sunday and Monday. Regional consumption rose from 28,454 MW on Sunday to 31,426 MW on Monday, while imports increased from 2,889 MW to 3,525 MW. Sunday generation totaled 25,565 MW, including hydro at 3,236 MW, coal at 6,763 MW, gas at 4,796 MW, wind at 2,455 MW, and solar at 4,478 MW.
The strongest pricing signal came from Serbia as SEEPEX traded at €300.22/MWh on Oct. 19. The Serbian price was €7.83/MWh above HUPX and around €68/MWh above Greece, while it was almost €92/MWh higher than Germany’s level referenced in the report. Serbia’s system improved versus Sunday but remained linked to the regional squeeze.
The report shows Serbia’s consumption rising to 3,871 MW from 3,629 MW and generation recovering to 2,650 MW from 2,180 MW. Despite the improvement, Serbia stayed a net importer of about 1,221 MW on average. Intraday pricing also showed a wide spread between low and high hours for generators and traders.
The SEEPEX hourly minimum fell to €185/MWh around H14 before climbing to a maximum of €404/MWh at H19. Peak-load electricity averaged €297.7/MWh while off-peak power averaged €302.7/MWh. Montenegro followed a similar regional pattern with BELEN increasing by €39.6/MWh to €276.23/MWh.
The Montenegro contract recorded an hourly maximum of €360/MWh and an hourly minimum of €210/MWh on the day described in the report. Greece showed a different intraday structure with HENEX averaging €232.43/MWh, nearly €60 below HUPX. The Greek hourly range extended from just €2.8/MWh to €375.8/MWh.
The minimum price occurred during daytime hours while the maximum arrived at H21 in the reported profile. Greek peak-load prices averaged €171.6/MWh compared with €293.2/MWh off peak. The report links this pattern to daytime renewable generation followed by a steep evening repricing.
Cross-border spreads and commodity costs in focus on Oct. 19 [no-op]
The Hungary-Germany spread remained highlighted as the key cross-border indicator in the report for Monday trading hours . German day-ahead electricity settled at €208.44/MWh compared with €292.39/MWh on HUPX, leaving Hungary with a premium of €83.96/MWh.
The spread widened by €3.2/MWh from Sunday despite more than 3.4 GW of core imports into the Hungary-SEE region mentioned in the report . Austria traded at €236.72/MWh and Italy at €262.63/MWh, placing much of SEE above western and central European supply centres referenced in the data.
The forward curve quoted for Hungary showed Week 43 power at €268/MWh and Week 44 at €262.50/MWh, with November quoted at €246.50/MWh . The Hungary-Germany forward spread remained wide at €92/MWh for Week 43, €78/MWh for Week 44 and €55/MWh for November.
Austrian CEGH gas stood at €89.56/MWh and November gas was quoted at €89/MWh in the report’s fuel snapshot . EUA carbon allowances were listed at €85.41/tonne and November coal at €152.5/tonne, keeping thermal marginal costs elevated according to those inputs.
The Oct. 19 market profile therefore combined higher weekday demand translating into higher imports and triple-digit regional premiums over Germany with deep intraday swings in renewable-heavy markets described across multiple SEE zones . Serbia’s base price of around €300/MWh and its evening peak reaching €404/MWh were presented as markers of where immediate scarcity risk concentrated within the dataset.
