Southeast European day-ahead electricity markets sharply diverged on Thursday, September 17, as stronger solar output pushed prices lower across the central Balkans while tighter conditions and cross-border constraints kept Hungary, Slovenia and Austria at substantial premiums.
Serbia’s SEEPEX recorded the region’s lowest baseload price at €109.08/MWh, falling €42.80 from the previous session. The Serbian contract settled almost €69/MWh below Hungary, creating one of the widest spreads in the region.
Prices also declined across the interconnected western Balkans. Albania fell €22.40 to €147.53/MWh, Montenegro dropped €26.90 to €143.02/MWh, and North Macedonia lost €12.30 to €141.67/MWh.
The southern markets remained considerably cheaper than Hungary despite gains in Bulgaria and Greece. Bulgaria rose €18.80 to €159.11/MWh, while Greece advanced €18.90 to €142.30/MWh. Romania was unchanged at €169.19/MWh.
Hungarian HUPX moved in the opposite direction, gaining €9.70 to €177.76/MWh. Slovenia was even tighter, rising €21.10 to €191.57/MWh, while Austria increased to €189.48/MWh.
The price split suggests that available low-cost generation in the Balkans could not move freely into the higher-priced Hungarian and Slovenian zones. Hungary traded at a premium of €18.65/MWh to Bulgaria, €35.46/MWh to Greece and €34.73/MWh to Montenegro.
Germany’s price simultaneously fell €39.40 to €142.89/MWh, reversing the previous Hungarian discount and producing a €34.87/MWh Hungarian premium to Germany. The swing in the HU-DE spread amounted to more than €49/MWh in a single session.
Imports from Austria and Slovakia into the Hungary-Slovenia area consequently climbed by 719 MW to an average 1,302 MW. Combined net imports across Hungary and Southeast Europe increased by 833 MW to 939 MW, showing that higher-priced central markets required substantially more external supply.
Regional electricity demand was forecast at 29,745 MW, up 844 MW day on day. Hungary accounted for 4,749 MW, Greece 5,687 MW, Romania and Bulgaria together 9,097 MW, and Slovenia and Croatia 8,922 MW.
Renewable output presented a mixed picture. Forecast solar generation rose by 1,815 MW to 7,730 MW, helping depress daytime prices in several Balkan markets. Wind output, however, fell by 826 MW to 2,115 MW, increasing the need for imports and dispatchable generation during non-solar hours.
The stronger solar forecast was therefore sufficient to push down prices in Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia, but it did not remove scarcity premiums farther north. The result was a fragmented regional market in which geography and available cross-border capacity mattered more than the overall supply balance.
Italy remained the most expensive market at €222.81/MWh, despite a daily decline of €4.90. It traded €45.05/MWh above Hungary and more than €113/MWh above Serbia, preserving strong incentives for northward and westward exports where transmission capacity was available.
Hungarian forward prices offered little indication that the tightness would disappear quickly. The week-39 contract eased to €179.50/MWh, but week 40 rose to €185.50/MWh. October remained higher at €195/MWh, while the calendar-2026 contract stood at €149.50/MWh.
The September 17 market was not simply divided between surplus and deficit countries. Serbia’s price collapse alongside rising Hungarian imports showed a deeper constraint: cheap Balkan electricity existed, but the grid could not deliver enough of it to the markets willing to pay the highest price.