November Sees Record Sales of Electricity in the NPS Estonia Price Area

The Estonian price area of the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool Spot (NPS) saw record sales of electricity in November. The increase in sales was helped by low consumption in Estonia, a slightly higher price in Finland and increased production across the whole region, which meant there was strong competition to sell in the market and consequently a much lower electricity price than there was last November.

The 566 GWh sold in the NPS Estonia price area in November was more than ever before and almost 60% more than the amount sold in October. Electricity production from combined heat and power plants in Latvia and Lithuania was also higher than in October, which meant they had more to sell in the Estonia price area. Estonian market participants sold 93% of the electricity, while Latvians sold 2% and Lithuanians 5%.

Estonian buyers accounted for 47% of the amounts bought in the Estonian price area and Latvians for 43%, while only 10% of electricity purchases were made by Lithuanians. The total amount bought was slightly lower than it was last month at 487 GWh, and all the remaining electricity went through the EstLink 1 cable to Finland, where the price was higher. The power flow in EstLink 1 went towards Finland 70% of the time and total exports to the north increased almost eightfold from 13.5 GWh to 105.6 GWh.

Movements in prices in the NPS Estonia and Finland price areas and in the system as a whole were quite similar in November. For the month overall the Estonian price was about one euro lower than that in Finland at 41.12 EUR/MWh. This is about the same as the October price in Estonia, while the price in Finland was 14% higher than in the previous month.

The price in the Estonian price area was much lower than it was in November last year when it reached an average of 50.35 EUR/MWh.

Futures prices for 2012 on the last trading day in November were lower than they had been in October. The biggest fall was in the futures prices for the next months, December 2011 to February 2012, which were up to 7.6 EUR/MWh cheaper than in the previous month.

A complete summary can be found here (only in Estonian).