Romania had the highest average day-ahead electricity price among the seven major Southeast European markets monitored by the Institute of Energy for South-East Europe (IENE) in the week ended November 1. The average reached €287.26/MWh, despite a substantial decline in net electricity imports.
The Romanian average was €0.71/MWh above Serbia’s €286.55/MWh and €2.63/MWh higher than Hungary’s €284.63/MWh. Combined wind and solar generation fell by 34.3% week on week, while electricity demand rose by 1.58%. Hydropower output increased by 15.04%, partly offsetting the decline in renewable generation, while thermal generation decreased by 2.32%. Net electricity imports fell by 66.32% to 48.20 GWh.
The rise in wholesale prices alongside lower import volumes challenges the assumption that Romania’s price increase was driven mainly by greater reliance on imported electricity. IENE’s data do not separately account for nuclear generation, power plant availability, intraday transmission constraints or the marginal generation technology that sets hourly market prices. However, lower aggregate weekly imports do not necessarily mean lower electricity prices, particularly when supply and demand remain tight across neighbouring markets.
For electricity market participants, Romania’s performance illustrates the distinction between physical electricity flows and spot price formation. Weekly net imports reflect the country’s overall supply-demand balance, whereas day-ahead prices respond to market conditions in individual delivery hours and bidding zones. Romania’s position as the region’s most expensive market despite substantially lower net imports points to the need for closer analysis of hourly generation patterns, power plant availability and cross-border interconnection capacity.