Serbia stayed a net electricity importer in 2025, with the value of imported power rising by 30.3% year on year. Exports increased by 19.6% over the same period. The faster growth in import value than export value reflected a tightening domestic balance.
Electricity represented 2% of Serbia’s total merchandise imports, up from 1.7% in 2024. On the export side, electricity’s share climbed from 2.2% to 2.5%. Cross-border trading expanded in both directions even as the net position worsened.
Where Serbia bought and sold electricity in 2025
Bosnia and Herzegovina was Serbia’s largest source of imported electricity, with purchases valued at €206.7 million. Croatia followed with imports worth €144.9 million, while imports from Romania reached €134 million. These figures describe the main counterparties for Serbia’s import flows.
Romania was also Serbia’s largest export destination, buying €315.5 million of Serbian power. North Macedonia imported electricity worth €124.7 million from Serbia. Together, the import and export values show substantial volumes moving across multiple regional markets.
Imports and exports move together as trading activity expands
The presence of both large imports and exports points to an increasingly traded electricity balance for Serbia. Electricity can be imported during outages, low-hydrology periods or high-demand hours. It can also be exported when domestic generation exceeds consumption or when regional spreads support profitable trading opportunities.
This pattern indicates that annual trade totals can coexist with a net importer position. It also aligns with the broader shift away from Serbia’s historic role as a regular net exporter. Ageing lignite units, variable hydropower output, higher consumption and periods of weak availability across the EPS generation fleet have increased reliance on external supply.
Timing of trades affects costs as renewables expand
Trade values do not fully capture the physical balance because annual costs depend on when electricity is bought and sold. Imports concentrated in high-priced winter or evening periods can lead to a financial deficit even if annual import and export volumes are closer together. Exports during lower-priced renewable-rich hours may generate substantially less revenue per megawatt-hour.
The timing risk is expected to increase as Serbia adds solar and wind capacity . New renewable production can improve the annual energy balance, but without storage and flexible generation it may not remove imports during peak hours . Grid reinforcement, pumped storage, batteries and stronger regional interconnections will influence how much renewable output can replace higher-cost purchases.
The 30.3% increase in electricity imports therefore functions as more than a headline trade statistic for EPS . It is linked to the economic value of improving domestic plant availability, hydropower flexibility and system balancing .
