According to the agency’s statement on Thursday, the average day-ahead prices in the Hungarian market in August were above one hundred euros and reached 109 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), and on most working days the day’s line price also exceeded 100 euros per megawatt hour. Next year’s line prices also continued to rise, reaching double the value last August.
Strong demand for coal and LNG in Asia has pushed up coal and natural gas prices, raising electricity prices.
The increase in quota prices due to significant demand also contributed to the increase in prices, MEKH indicated.
A total of 700-900 megawatts lower capacity was available from Austria and Slovakia, which the Hungarian and Austrian prices are completely separated. There was also an hourly price difference of more than 160 euros per megawatt hour, ie the Hungarian price was so much higher than in Austria. The fact that the demand for imports from the Balkans was constant also contributed to the formation of high prices, with Hungary exporting to the southern countries for at least 78 percent of the hours, the energy office said.
Due to high gas prices in the largest European markets, the production of gas-fired power plants has decreased, at the same time, domestic production rose 6 percent from a year earlier.
In Hungary, as a result of the overhead reduction, the prices of electricity and natural gas paid by consumers using the universal service are fixed and kept fixed by law, and the Hungarian population is protected against price increases in the markets, MEKH emphasized in its statement.
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