The electricity price will come down to almost RON 0 on Tuesday, according to OPCOM

Aurel Dragan 30/04/2018 | 16:55

The electricity price is about to drop to almost zero RON per MWh on the spot market of OPCOM (Romanian gas and electricity market operator) tomorrow, May 1, for several hours. Also, the average peak consumption hours will be lower than the rest of the day, according to the data posted by the operator.

Until 7:00, the energy price will be around RON 0.2 – 0.3 per MWh but it will rise to RON 10 per MWh at 8:00 just to drop below RON 1 between 14:00 and 17:00. At night, after 21:00, the price will go up to a maximum of RON 199 per MWh.

This means that the price average for the day will be RON 34 per MWh, very low compared to the usual price that ranges between RON 100 and RON 200.

This kind of situation is very rare in countries like ours and in markets that Romania spot market is coupled with, like Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but the consumer can end up being paid to use the power that is produced. For example, at 13:00, when in Romania the current will cost EUR 0.2 per MWh, in Slovakia and the Czech Republic the price is minus EUR 30 per MWh, so the producers are paying consumers with this amount to use a MWh of electricity.

All of these phenomena are specific to days for which low electricity consumption is projected, together with a large renewable energy that can not be stored.