Electricity exchange price remains stable in April

According to data provided by the Nord Pool Nordic electricity exchange, the average electricity price in the Estonian price area in April was 29.73 euros per megawatt-hour, compared with 29.41 euros in March.

In Latvia, the electricity price last month reached 30.71 euros and in Lithuania it was 33.03 euros per megawatt-hour. The price in Finland was slightly lower than in the Baltic States, at 27.25 euros. The Nord Pool system price was 22.12 euros per megawatt-hour.

Last month, electricity moved in the usual directions, with the vast majority of electricity flowing from Finland to Estonia and from Estonia to Latvia. Both the Finland-Estonia and Estonia-Latvia directions used over 60 per cent of the transmission capacity provided for the market, and the full capacity for these directions was used for 287 and 125 hours respectively.

The average price for carbon dioxide emission quotas, which influence the price of electricity, fluctuated between 5.16 and 6.83 euros per ton in April. The average monthly price for the quotas – 5.69 euros – was 15 per cent higher than in March, when the price fell slightly.

On the basis of transactions on the Nasdaq OMX Commodities market conducted on the last trading day of April, the average electricity price in the NPS Estonia price area will be 30.65 euros in May, and the average price for the third quarter of 2016 will be 32.80 euros per megawatt-hour. In Latvia, the exchange price may be nearly a tenth higher, based on futures transactions.

Elering earned a total of around 1 million euros in cross-border capacity distribution profit in April from the Finnish-Estonian and Estonian-Latvian borders.