Southeast Europe’s electricity market is developing a new commercial layer in which value comes not only from electricity generation, but also from the ability to control when, where and how electricity is consumed or produced.
Recent European developments point towards a market increasingly shaped by aggregators, demand response, peer-to-peer trading, electric-vehicle charging, energy communities and digitally managed distributed assets.
For Southeast Europe, this shift could gradually transform electricity markets traditionally centred on large power plants, wholesale trading and transmission capacity.
Two developments in September illustrate the trend. EU energy regulator ACER has revised the frameworks governing the European MARI and PICASSO balancing platforms, introducing alternative qualification routes to facilitate participation by smaller flexibility providers. Meanwhile, Slovenian distribution company Elektro Ljubljana has highlighted a European framework for assessing the impact of peer-to-peer electricity trading on distribution grids.
Together, these developments point towards a market in which smaller electricity assets can be aggregated into commercially valuable portfolios.
From generators to aggregators
European balancing markets have traditionally relied on power plants capable of adjusting production to meet system needs. Hydropower, thermal generation and large batteries remain important, but millions of smaller flexible assets are emerging across the electricity system.
Factories can adjust production schedules, commercial buildings can modify heating and cooling, refrigeration systems can shift consumption, and electric vehicles can delay charging. Individually, these assets are often too small to participate directly in balancing markets. Coordinated digitally, however, they can operate as a virtual power plant.
ACER’s revised framework introduces traditional activation testing alongside ex-post verification and fast-track qualification, giving national transmission system operators additional ways to assess whether balancing-service providers can deliver promised flexibility.
These changes could reduce administrative and technical barriers for aggregators managing hundreds of smaller assets rather than a single power plant. For Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia, this creates opportunities to develop a new intermediary industry connecting consumers with electricity markets.
Electricity flexibility becomes a service
Aggregators do not necessarily own the assets they manage. Their business is coordinating consumption and generation in response to electricity prices, balancing requirements and network conditions.
An aggregator could combine flexibility from several factories, commercial buildings and EV fleets to create a portfolio capable of providing balancing services. Participating customers receive a share of the revenue, while the aggregator manages forecasting, dispatch, market participation and settlement.
Electric vehicles offer particularly significant potential. Thousands of vehicles represent substantial electricity demand, but charging does not always need to happen immediately. Software can shift charging to more suitable periods, provided vehicles are sufficiently charged when required.
Flexibility becomes a tradeable service when these individual adjustments are combined and offered to the electricity market.
The distribution grid becomes part of the market
Traditional wholesale markets primarily value electricity according to time and bidding zone. However, the growth of distributed generation is making location within the distribution network increasingly important.
Electricity generated in a congested part of the network can have a different system value from electricity produced where capacity is readily available. Peer-to-peer trading and energy communities highlight this challenge because financial transactions between participants still depend on physical grid infrastructure.
Simultaneous exports can create voltage problems and overload local lines or transformers, while coordinated local consumption can reduce pressure on the wider network.
The CWA 50784:2026 framework highlighted by Elektro Ljubljana provides a methodology for assessing peer-to-peer electricity transactions through data exchange, interoperability, grid visibility and measurable performance indicators.
This represents a step towards grid-aware electricity sharing, in which local energy transactions are assessed not only financially but also according to their effects on distribution networks.
Local electricity acquires a location value
A more developed local electricity market could incorporate both wholesale prices and local network conditions.
In a commercial district with rooftop solar, EV chargers, heat pumps and large electricity consumers, flexible demand could absorb surplus solar generation and reduce congestion. Distribution operators could potentially procure local flexibility instead of relying exclusively on generation curtailment or immediate network reinforcement.
Aggregators would coordinate participating assets, smart meters would provide consumption and generation data, and software would determine how demand should respond.
This creates opportunities for local flexibility markets, where distribution operators procure congestion relief or voltage support from assets connected to specific network areas.
For Southeast Europe, the model could become increasingly relevant as distribution grids accommodate more solar generation, EV charging and electrified heating.
Smart meters become commercial infrastructure
Smart meters are commonly associated with billing, remote readings and network management. Their broader commercial value lies in providing the data needed to identify and coordinate flexible consumption.
Traditional billing records how much electricity a customer uses. Flexibility platforms determine how much consumption could be shifted to another time.
This information can support dynamic tariffs, demand response, peer-to-peer settlement, energy communities and local flexibility markets.
Companies capable of processing large volumes of meter data, forecasting consumption and translating information into dispatch instructions could become important intermediaries between consumers, suppliers, aggregators and network operators.
Dynamic tariffs need smarter optimisation
Dynamic tariffs allow consumers to respond to market prices rather than paying a fixed rate throughout the day. However, price signals alone can create new problems.
If thousands of EVs begin charging simultaneously when electricity becomes cheaper, the resulting demand could create another peak.
More advanced optimisation must therefore combine wholesale prices with local congestion, network charges, balancing opportunities and customer requirements.
The question is no longer simply when electricity is cheapest, but when and where consumption provides the greatest value to the entire system.
Southeast Europe has substantial untapped flexibility
The region has considerable potential for flexibility markets, including large industrial consumers, district-heating systems, water utilities, commercial refrigeration, tourism infrastructure and growing EV-charging networks.
At the same time, electricity systems face rising costs associated with grid reinforcement and the integration of distributed renewable generation.
Flexibility cannot eliminate the need for infrastructure investment, but it can help determine when and where upgrades are necessary. A transformer facing congestion during only a limited number of hours, for example, may benefit from targeted demand adjustments before additional capacity becomes necessary.
Similarly, flexible local consumption can help distribution networks accommodate midday solar generation.
The economic opportunity lies in combining physical infrastructure with digitally managed flexibility to improve the use of existing grid capacity.
A new electricity-market value chain
The emerging market will retain traditional generators, traders and network operators, but a growing share of commercial value could come from flexibility, information and coordination.
Aggregators will combine distributed assets, software providers will optimise consumption, energy communities will coordinate local generation, EV platforms will manage charging, and smart-meter systems will support measurement and settlement. Industrial consumers could also earn revenue from flexibility without changing their core operations.
ACER’s balancing-market reforms address how smaller assets can participate in European balancing markets, while Slovenia’s peer-to-peer framework focuses on the relationship between local electricity transactions and distribution networks. The next challenge is connecting these two layers.
The same asset could potentially provide flexibility to a distribution operator, participate in national balancing markets through an aggregator and support wider electricity-system needs. Making this work will require clear contractual arrangements, reliable metering and rules preventing double counting or conflicting commitments.
For Southeast Europe, investment opportunities will therefore extend beyond new power plants, renewable projects, batteries and transmission lines. Increasingly, value will come from the digital infrastructure connecting existing assets to electricity markets.
The region’s future electricity businesses may not necessarily own the most generation capacity. Their competitive advantage could lie in the software and systems that coordinate when thousands of other assets consume, produce or reduce electricity.
