Day-ahead electricity prices in Southeast Europe rose sharply for Monday, Oct. 19, with Serbia’s SEEPEX clearing above €300/MWh. Serbia’s market settled at €300.22/MWh, while the regional move followed a weekday demand rebound and tighter balance conditions. The repricing also widened premiums versus western European supply centres.
SEEPEX was the most expensive market in the region at €300.22/MWh, up €46.3/MWh from Sunday. Hungary’s HUPX followed at €292.39/MWh, an increase of €36.4/MWh, while Romania rose to €281.07/MWh. Bulgaria reached €279.48/MWh, Albania €280.60/MWh, North Macedonia €277.18/MWh and Montenegro €276.23/MWh.
Croatia settled at €260.47/MWh and Slovenia at €254.49/MWh. Greece remained the cheapest SEE market at €232.43/MWh despite a daily increase of €51.7/MWh. Price gains across the region were broad after the weekend, with increases ranging from roughly €36/MWh in Hungary to almost €58/MWh in Albania.
Demand recovery and higher net imports tighten the regional balance
The main driver was Monday’s recovery in electricity demand. Combined Hungary and SEE consumption was forecast at 31,426 MW, nearly 3 GW higher than Sunday’s level. At the same time, regional net imports increased by 635 MW to 3,525 MW.
The rise in imports indicated that additional domestic generation was not sufficient to cover the full increase in load. Renewable conditions provided limited support: solar generation was forecast at 3,800 MW, down 677 MW day on day, while wind was expected at 2,412 MW, down 42 MW. Imports from core Central European markets reached 3,431 MW, up 132 MW from Sunday.
Balance figures reinforced the tightening picture for Monday trading. Regional consumption increased from 28,454 MW on Sunday to 31,426 MW on Monday, while imports rose from 2,889 MW to 3,525 MW. Sunday generation totalled 25,565 MW, including hydro at 3,236 MW, coal at 6,763 MW and gas at 4,796 MW.
Sunday generation also included wind at 2,455 MW and solar at 4,478 MW. These inputs were consistent with a system that required higher cross-border flows as demand returned to weekday levels.
Serbia’s premium versus HUPX and intraday scarcity profile
Serbia showed the strongest pricing signal within the region. SEEPEX at €300.22/MWh traded €7.83/MWh above HUPX and around €68/MWh above Greece. The Serbian price was almost €92/MWh higher than Germany.
Serbia’s own balance improved compared with Sunday but did not break away from the regional squeeze. Consumption increased to 3,871 MW from 3,629 MW and generation recovered to 2,650 MW from 2,180 MW. Serbia remained a substantial net importer at about 1,221 MW on average.
The hourly pattern highlighted scarcity outside conventional peak hours for generators and storage investors. SEEPEX fell to a daily minimum of €185/MWh around H14 before rising to a maximum of €404/MWh at H19. Peak-load electricity averaged €297.7/MWh and off-peak power averaged €302.7/MWh.
This intraday shape aligned with a market where midday prices were comparatively softer before evening ramps became very expensive on Oct. 19.
Montenegro and Greece show volatile intraday ranges
Montenegro followed the same regional pattern as BELEN increased by €39.6/MWh to €276.23/MWh. The hourly maximum reached €360/MWh while the minimum remained relatively elevated at €210/MWh.
Greece reflected a different aspect of intraday volatility through HENEX trading dynamics on Oct. 19. HENEX averaged €232.43/MWh, almost €60 below HUPX, but the hourly range extended from just €2.8/MWh to €375.8/MWh with the maximum arriving at H21.
The minimum occurred during daytime hours while Greek peak-load prices averaged only €171.6/MWh compared with €293.2/MWh off peak on Monday trading dayside-to-evening repricing conditions were reflected in that structure.
Albania also showed an extreme evening signal: its maximum price reached €449/MWh, the highest hourly level among the markets covered in this dataset. Albania’s daily average stood at €280.60/MWh.
Hungary-Germany spread remains a key cross-border constraint signal
The Hungary-Germany spread continued to be the main cross-border indicator for relative pricing pressure within the region on Oct. 19 trading day-ahead markets settled differently across borders.
German day-ahead electricity cleared at €208.44/MWh compared with HUPX at €292.39/MWh on Monday hours leaving Hungary with a premium of €83.96/MWh. The spread widened by €3.2/MWh from Sunday despite more than 3.4 GW of core imports into the Hungary-SEE region.
Austria traded at €236.72/MWh and Italy at €262.63/MWh during the same session window, keeping much of SEE above western and central European supply centres on a day-ahead basis.
Forward prices indicated expectations that extreme spot conditions would moderate rather than disappear entirely for subsequent delivery periods quoted for Hungary Week 43 power at €268/MWh, Week 44 at €262.50/MWh, and November at €246.50/MWh. The Hungary-Germany forward spread remained wide at €92/MWh for Week 43, €78/MWh for Week 44 and €55/MWh for November.
Fuel and carbon inputs offered limited immediate relief in thermal marginal cost terms across relevant contracts listed for Austria CEGH gas at €89.56/MWh. November gas was quoted at €89/MWh, EUA carbon allowances at €85.41/tonne, and November coal at €152.5/tonne.
The Oct. 19 session therefore reflected a SEE pricing structure where weekday demand translated into higher imports and triple-digit premiums over Germany alongside deep intraday swings in renewable-heavy markets including Serbia’s €404/MWh evening peak versus its €300/midday+ base price level.