SEEPEX CEO: Electricity prices won’t get back to precrisis levels

The price of electricity won’t get back to EUR 60 per megawatt-hour, where it was before the energy crisis, said Miloš Mladenović, director of Serbia’s power exchange SEEPEX, and added that current prices on power exchanges are around EUR 250.

The price of electricity on the day-ahead market of SEEPEX today was around EUR 220 per MWh, which is similar to the power exchanges in the region.

The best indicator for prices for 2022, in his words, are the prices of futures.

Based on the data, the prices for 2022 will not go below EUR 200 even in the second quarter, when they usually decrease.

Prices will never return to EUR 60, and it is similar to the oil market in the ’70s, Mladenović said.

There are many factors for rising prices, and one of the main ones is the determination of the European Union and the world to implement the green agenda, which results in high prices for CO2 emissions. The situation is being exacerbated by the rising natural gas prices.

The average SEEPEX price in 2020 was EUR 114 per MWh

Mladenović stated that the price of electricity on SEEPEX is in line with the prices of European exchanges and that its average price in 2020 was EUR 114 per MWh.

Mladenović added there are socially responsible companies in Serbia that take care of the energy they consume and procure it only with guarantees of origin. The issue of energy origin will be even more important when the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) is introduced, he said.

Mladenović said companies can buy electricity on the SEEPEX exchange but that they don’t use the opportunity. One of the reasons for not doing so is the decision of the Serbian government to freeze electricity prices, which is similar to the moves of EU governments.