“In May the Pun (the single national electricity price, ed.) grew to €94.88/MWh (+€8.08/MWh compared to April). This dynamic is driven by a growth in gas generation costs and supported by an increase in purchases (MGP: 22.1 TWh), in a context in which an increase in both renewable volumes is observed, at the highest level ever observed on monthly basis, and of the net import”, we read in the latest newsletter of Gme, Energy markets manager. AND “in the Electricity Forward Market (Mte) the control prices appear stable or increasing, with the June 2024 baseload closing the month at €89.93/MWh. Slight growth in transactions recorded on the Forward Energy Accounts Platform (PCE)“. Tomorrow the price will even be 115.7 euros per megawatt hour.
In detail in May the Pun “reaches the highest since February following the growth recorded during the month by the main gas price references, to the highest since the beginning of the year (with the IGI at 33.14 €/MWh, +2.52 €/MWh on April) , which is accompanied by a modest increase in purchases. The increase in PUN is mitigated by renewable sales at historic highs and a slight recovery in net imports”, underlines the Gme. “StDifferent dynamics are observed on the other main European electricity exchanges, with prices substantially stable or slightly decreasing in Switzerland and France (62/27 €/MWh, -1 €/MWh) and modestly rising in Austria and Germany (64/67 € /MWh, +5 €/MWh)”.
However, it is striking that “the increase in the Italian price is observable in all groups of hours”, just as in May “the share of renewable energy sold in the Italian system reaches its all-time high on a monthly basis, equal to 61%. The growth in RES volumes affects water sources in the North (+0.9 GWh on average) and solar, which reached the highest levels since July 2019 and July 2017 respectively. Consequently, the volumes deriving from thermal sources show a decline, reaching 36% 4%, with sales of combined cycles still declining and at the lowest level for over fourteen years“.
In fact, in our country energy continues to cost much more than in the rest of Europe. In fact, according to a study by the Nord Est Think Tank Foundation, carried out in collaboration with ARTE – Energy Reseller and Trader Association, in the last year the price of electricity has fallen by around 10%, but the decrease has been greater in Germany (-18%) and especially in Spain (-59%) and France (-65%). “As a result, our companies have to incur higher energy costs, putting their international competitiveness at risk. If in May 2023, in Germany, the price of electricity was 23% lower than in Italy, today the gap has become 29%. The comparison with Spain is even more merciless, with a differential in favor of the Iberians rising from 30% to 68%. The same situation occurs in France: if a year ago the transalpines benefited from a price 27% lower than the Italian one, in May 2024 the differential has risen to 71%”, highlights the study.
