In Week 29 of 2025, electricity market prices increased across all Southeast European (SEE) countries compared to the previous week, with all markets maintaining weekly average prices above €90/MWh, except for Türkiye. This rise was driven by higher electricity demand due to a return of hot temperatures after a brief mild period, combined with reduced renewable energy production in most markets. Prices started the week above €100/MWh in most SEE countries but declined slightly by Friday before ending around €77/MWh.
Italy and Croatia experienced the largest percentage increases in electricity prices, with rises of 8.76% and 7.50% respectively. Greece followed with a 7.06% increase, while Bulgaria and Romania recorded growths of 7.05% and 6.49%.
During the third week of July 2025, Central European electricity markets also saw a rise in weekly average spot prices. Most major countries recorded prices around €85/MWh, ranging between €61/MWh and €100/MWh. Slovenia was the most expensive market at €96.76/MWh, showing a 7.91% increase from the previous week, closely followed by Slovakia at the same price level. France had the lowest price in the region at €60.89/MWh, but with a significant weekly jump of 21.88%.
European weekly average electricity prices hovered near €92/MWh, ranging from €60.89/MWh in France to €117.89/MWh in Italy. On July 20, France recorded the lowest daily average price at €20.58/MWh, while Italy reached the highest daily average of €122.52/MWh on July 15. In the MIBEL markets, Spain and Portugal saw slight price increases, both reaching €77.80/MWh.
Electricity demand in the SEE region rose by 2.81% compared to the previous week, totaling 17,668.01 GWh. This growth reversed the earlier downward trend and was fueled by a new heatwave increasing air conditioning use. Italy and Croatia led the demand increase with 7.22% and 4.77% growth, respectively, followed by Greece at 3.24% and Serbia at 2.96%. Hungary’s demand grew by 1.40%, while Romania was the only country to experience a decline of 1.82%.
Electricity generation from variable renewables in SEE dropped by 9.1%, totaling 3,634.37 GWh. This decrease was mainly due to a significant fall in solar output, which declined by 17.2%, with Italy experiencing the largest drop of 27.8%. Wind generation increased by 5.1% to 1,513.24 GWh, thanks to higher output in Italy and Türkiye, which added 192.20 GWh overall. Hydropower generation also declined by 14.85%, largely because of reductions in all SEE countries except Serbia and Romania, where production rose by 29.40% and 9.24%, respectively. Hungary and Italy saw the largest hydropower decreases of 43.40% and 34.44%.
Thermal power generation in the SEE region fell by 4.97% to 8,358.17 GWh despite the higher electricity demand. Coal-fired generation dipped slightly by 0.93% to 3,507.45 GWh, while gas-fired generation decreased by 7.69% to 4,850.72 GWh. Notably, Türkiye’s coal generation rose by 1.43%, though its gas-fired output dropped by 3.44%. Bulgaria saw a 19.70% increase in coal generation but a 7.09% fall in gas generation. Greece’s coal-fired output grew by 31.97%, accompanied by a 3.48% rise in gas-fired generation.
Cross-border electricity trade in the SEE region showed higher net imports in Week 29, increasing by 19.84% to 1,280.28 GWh compared to the previous week. However, electricity exports declined by 27.2%, falling to 171.18 GWh, while total imports rose by 11.3%, reaching 1,451.45 GWh. Romania, Italy, and Croatia recorded significant increases in net imports of 54.03%, 13.81%, and 5.55%, respectively. Hungary experienced a sharp decrease in net imports of 32.39%. Greece and Bulgaria continued exporting but at reduced levels, with net exports down by 41.65% and 58.09%. Türkiye increased its net exports by 10.77%. Serbia transitioned into a net electricity exporter during this period, recording net exports of 23.52 GWh.
