During the first week of May 2025, average electricity prices across major European markets dropped compared to the previous week. The Nord Pool market in the Nordic countries and the MIBEL market in Spain saw the largest percentage decreases, with prices falling by 59% in both cases. The UK’s N2EX market and Italy’s IPEX market experienced the smallest declines, with reductions of 13% and 14%, respectively. Other markets also saw price drops, with the EPEX SPOT market covering Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands registering a 27% decline, while France saw a 57% decrease.
In the week starting April 28, most European electricity markets saw weekly averages below €65/MWh, with the exceptions being Italy and the UK, which had averages of €76.88/MWh and €80.91/MWh, respectively. Spain and Portugal recorded the lowest weekly averages, with €15.36/MWh and €16.50/MWh, respectively. Prices in other markets ranged from €21.64/MWh in the Nordic market to €60.04/MWh in Germany.
The week of April 28 coincided with a blackout in the Iberian Peninsula, leading to a significant decrease in the coupling between hourly prices in Spain and Portugal. The coupling dropped to 54%, a stark contrast to the previous week’s 84% and 95% for 2025 up to the blackout. Data from Red Eléctrica revealed a 71% drop in electricity exports to Portugal compared to the prior week.
On May 2, the Nordic market saw the lowest price of the week across all analyzed markets, with a price of €4.97/MWh. This marked the lowest price for the Nordic market since March 23. Spain, France, and Portugal also saw prices below €10/MWh in the first week of May, with the French market registering its lowest price since July 7, 2024, at €5.90/MWh on May 1. On May 4, the Italian market reached its lowest price since May 17, 2021, at €51.10/MWh.
In terms of hourly prices, most markets experienced negative hourly prices in the first week of May. On May 1, from 15:00 to 16:00, the Spanish market recorded its historical minimum hourly price of €10.00/MWh. During the same day, the French market’s hourly price from 14:00 to 15:00 reached €118.01/MWh, marking its lowest since July 3, 2023. In Germany, the hourly price between 13:00 and 14:00 on May 1 was €129.99/MWh, the lowest since May 13, 2024. Italy’s market, meanwhile, recorded a price of €0.00/MWh between 14:00 and 15:00 on May 1, the lowest hourly price since April 13, 2020.
The decline in weekly gas prices, combined with a rise in wind energy production and a fall in demand in most markets, contributed to the overall reduction in electricity prices. Additionally, solar energy production increased in Germany, France, and Italy, further influencing the price trends across European electricity markets, AleaSoft reports.
