For delivery on Sept. 29, Southeast European day-ahead electricity prices moved higher in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria while Serbia and Greece remained discounted. The split was also reflected in Montenegro and North Macedonia, where prices stayed below the northern and eastern markets. Croatia and Slovenia traded at higher levels within the same session.
In the north and east, Hungary’s HUPX base price rose €8.9/MWh to €170.11/MWh. Romania increased €15.6 to €169.92/MWh, while Bulgaria gained €15.7 to €161.82/MWh. Croatia reached €172.76/MWh and Slovenia climbed to €174.01/MWh.
Prices were lower in several southern and western Balkan markets on the same delivery day. Serbia’s SEEPEX slipped to €110.06/MWh, Greece fell to €121.97/MWh, Montenegro dropped to €130.96/MWh and North Macedonia declined to €132.21/MWh. Albania averaged €147.58/MWh, about €23 below Hungary, while Italy averaged around €203/MWh.
Regional spreads widen between northern hubs and discounted markets
The pricing pattern produced a wide spread across the region’s day-ahead curve. Serbia traded almost €60/MWh below Hungary, while Greece was about €48/MWh below HUPX. Montenegro and North Macedonia were around €38-39/MWh cheaper than Hungary.
The largest bilateral change was reported between Hungary and Germany. German day-ahead prices fell to around €165.83/MWh, leaving Hungary about €4.3/MWh above Germany on Sept. 29. A day earlier, Hungary had traded roughly €34/MWh below Germany, implying a swing of nearly €39/MWh in the bilateral spread.
Austria stood at €180.55/MWh as Italy remained the highest-priced major market at about €203/MWh. The same session also showed a shift in physical flows that coincided with the rebound in HUPX and nearby markets.
Consumption and cross-border flows shift from net exports to net imports
Combined Hungary and SEE consumption increased to 29,105 MW, up around 740 MW day on day. The region moved from a net export position of 1,288 MW on Sept. 28 to net imports of 555 MW on Sept. 29, a swing of more than 1.8 GW. Imports from the Austria-Slovakia/core direction reached about 1,367 MW after reversing a previous-day flow of 501 MW in the opposite direction.
Hungary remained a net importer of roughly 1,007 MW compared with 731 MW a day earlier. Domestic consumption rose to 4,516 MW against generation of around 3,509 MW. Commercial flows showed strong imports from Slovakia and Romania, while Hungary continued exporting toward Croatia and Slovenia.
Romania stayed a net exporter but its surplus fell sharply to about 187 MW from 866 MW on Monday. Bulgaria’s exports also declined to 571 MW from 1,212 MW, tightening the northern and eastern SEE balance as regional demand recovered from lower weekend levels.
Southern market discounts show different hourly patterns
Greece fell €13.1/MWh to €121.97/MWh despite exporting more than 1 GW on average. Its hourly profile showed renewable-driven price compression: the Greek peak-period average was only €55.7/MWh versus an off-peak average of €188.2/MWh, with the minimum hourly price reaching zero.
Serbia’s daily average remained low at SEEPEX of €110.1/MWh, with peak power at €103.1/MWh and a daily minimum of €9.8/MWh. The maximum reached €240.1/MWh even as the baseload level stayed discounted, indicating high intraday volatility alongside low daily averages.
Montenegro decreased by more than €34/MWh to around €131/MWh and North Macedonia dropped by about €18/MWh to €132.2/MWh. The lowest-price hours differed between markets: Greece’s deepest compression occurred during the solar-heavy daytime period while Serbia’s minimum was recorded in early hours.
Italy remains a key outlet; forward prices point to firmness in Hungary
Italy continued to act as the main high-price outlet for surplus SEE electricity at around €203/MWh on average for the session date mentioned in the data set. Regional exports toward Italy averaged about 1,245 MW.
Montenegro’s interconnector flows reflected demand for electricity toward Italy, with exports averaging about 532 MW on a baseload basis even while its overall system remained a small net importer. The flows were described as drawing electricity from neighboring Balkan systems and sending power west through the submarine link.
Forward markets indicated continued firmness in Hungary: Hungarian Week 41 rose to around €202/MWh, Week 42 to about €205/MWh and October to approximately €204.50/MWh. Forward Hungary-Germany premiums narrowed over this period, while gas at CEGH was around €74.75/MWh and EUA carbon allowances were near €86.17/t.
The Sept. 29 session therefore showed divergence across neighboring markets rather than uniform tightening across Southeast Europe day-ahead prices for that delivery date.