While the OPCOM market report consulted by Energynomics shows in May an increase in the price of electricity on the Day-Ahead Market of 5% in real terms (to 85.9 euros/MWh) and almost 7% in nominal terms (434.8 lei/MWh), compared to May 2024, the PZUM data reveals record price transactions on Tuesday, June 17, of over 250 euros/MWh (1,258 lei) for one of the time slots (21.00-22.00). On Wednesday, June 18, the peak of transactions was reached for the time slot 21.00-22.00, at almost 929 lei/MWh (185 euros).

Most suppliers have already displayed on the ANRE price comparator increases of over 100% of the capped price, from July 1, but energy represents only one of the components taken into account in the final bill, as explained above by the suppliers’ association (AFEER). Romania remains a market with insufficient interconnections, but not without surprises: also on Tuesday, during one of the time slots (12-13.00), the energy price was only 5.89 lei (a little over 1.1 euros)/MWh, while on Wednesday the price dropped to 4.90 lei (under 1 euro), a value reached between 11-12.00.

Therefore, it is difficult to give a clear forecast on how bills will evolve in the coming period.

The May statistics, however, show a trend of increasing the DAM price (+6.97% in lei and +5.14% in euros), although the market ran on a value 16.29% lower, expressed in euros (totaling 108 million euros), at a transaction volume 19.35% lower (1.18 million MWh), in May, compared to the similar period of 2024.

The DAM share in May was almost 31% of the forecasted net consumption, while the intra-day market had a share of 5.27%, the latter marking rather a price stagnation – +0.8 for lei/MWh and -1% for euros, at 401 lei (compared to 398 in May 2024) and, respectively, 79.24 euros per MWh (compared to 80 in May 2024), in the context in which the leu has depreciated recently.

Interestingly, the average price for peak consumption (9-20.00) decreased on PZU in May by 6.19% (298.6 lei/MWh), and the average price in the “empty” interval (1-8, 21-24.00) increased by 5.35%, to 571 lei.

In contrast, on the bilateral contracts market with delivery in May, PCCB-LE-FLEX, the weighted average price was 502 lei/MWh (101.2 euros), with a consumption share of over 31.5% and a transaction value of 122.3 million euros.

Autor: Bogdan Tudorache

Active in the economic and business press for the past 26 years, Bogdan graduated Law and then attended intensive courses in Economics and Business English. He went up to the position of editor-in-chief since 2006 and has provided management and editorial policy for numerous economic publications dedicated especially to the community of foreign investors in Romania. From 2003 to 2013 he was active mainly in the financial-banking sector. He started freelancing for Energynomics in 2013, notable for his advanced knowledge of markets, business communities and a mature editorial style, both in Romanian and English.