On November 12, Ukraine set a new record for electricity imports from the EU since the country lost almost half of its power plant capacity due to retaliatory attacks by the Russian military. In Eastern European countries, prices have increased as much as possible. At this level, it no longer made sense for Ukrainian companies to buy electricity from the EU.
November 12 Ukraine imports the minimum amount of electricity from the EU since the country was left without almost half of its power plant capacity.
“Imports are made within 24 hours from Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. A total volume of 1598 MWh, with a maximum power in individual hours of up to 131 MW.” – reports Ukrenergo.
The day before, on November 11, Ukraine imported 300 MWh more, and on November 1, a total of 12 GWh. The country has sharply increased its purchases of European electricity since the spring, when the Russian military began destroying power plants in Ukraine with retaliatory attacks. kyiv claimed in late summer that eight retaliatory attacks deprived the country of 9 GW of power, almost half of all generation.
As a result, electricity imports into the country increased significantly and in July the supply reached 35.8 GWh per day.
High electricity prices in Eastern Europe, however, reduced the appetite of Ukrainian companies and, apparently, in November they completely disappeared due to record quotes: average prices increased by 2-3 times, while during the peak hours, nine times. Thus, if yesterday Hungary’s main electricity supplier sold electricity at an average of 223 euros per MWh, during peak hours it amounted to 713 euros per MWh. Today the quotes are even higher: 306 and 895 euros per MWh. Tomorrow, November 13, they will be 355 euros and 713 euros per MWh. These data are published by the Hungarian stock exchange HUPX and the price portal Energyprices.eu.
A similar situation has developed in neighboring countries that also supply electricity to Ukraine: Romania, Slovakia and Poland. There, the average prices for tomorrow are 183-315 euros per MWh, and today they are at the level of 169-268 euros per MWh.
The purchase of 80% of the electricity consumed from the EU allows Ukrainian companies to ensure uninterrupted operation. Importation is done through merchants. Another option is the Ukrainian Energy Exchange. But now it is impossible, since the regulator has set a price limit of up to 200 euros per MWh, and at those prices no one will sell European electricity to the UEB.
As reported EADaily A similar, but less critical situation arose for Ukrainian companies in the second half of August and early September. Ukrainian trader D.Trading explained that the rise in prices in Eastern European countries to 200 euros per MWh or more has made importing electricity useless.
“These prices significantly exceed the current marginal prices on the Ukrainian electricity market and do not allow the import of electricity on market conditions,” — reported in D.Trading.
Sharp increases in the wholesale price of electricity in Eastern European countries are also associated with large purchases by Ukraine. In response to this, the governments of Romania and Greece have already stated that Western European countries should also bear the burden of high prices.
