Serbia’s electricity consumption rose 8.38% to 699.41 GWh in the week ended November 1, one of the strongest increases in Southeast Europe. The rise in electricity use, alongside lower wind and solar generation, put greater pressure on conventional generation and imports, according to the Institute of Energy for South-East Europe (IENE). Combined wind and solar output fell 29.4% week on week, while thermal generation increased 9.06%.
Net electricity imports rose 3.71% over the same period. Serbia’s weekly average day-ahead electricity price was €286.55/MWh, just €0.71/MWh below Romania, which had the region’s highest price. The figures show higher demand coinciding with weaker renewable output and increased thermal generation.
Price movements also varied markedly during the week. The SEEPEX daily average reached €330.04/MWh on October 29, then fell to €261.47/MWh on November 1. This variation highlights the limits of using annual or monthly average prices to assess electricity procurement costs, particularly for industrial consumers exposed to day-ahead market fluctuations.
System pressures and procurement exposure
The generation and trading data do not establish whether the increase in imports resulted from power plant outages, commercial optimisation or other operational factors. Overall, higher consumption, a sharp decline in variable renewable generation and greater thermal output coincided with elevated spot market prices, pointing to mounting pressure on Serbia’s electricity system.
For industrial consumers, electricity suppliers and lenders, the developments underline the importance of assessing hourly consumption and procurement profiles, physical hedging arrangements, collateral requirements and contracted supply availability. With winter approaching, managing exposure to short-term market volatility will become increasingly important, beyond monitoring headline wholesale electricity prices.