The spot markets are not a normal exchange for gas, oil and electricity that seeks a balance between offers and demands, but it is a monster that is leveraging prices projected into a speculative future. Only this way, it was possible that the megawatt-hour price of electricity doubled in the week from Sept. 30 when it was €220 to Oct. 7, when it reached €450. Half a year ago, the highest average was €100 euros.
The average price now is €320 in the United Kingdom, €307 in Italy, €306 in Germany. Poland and Romania have the lowest prices of €200—due to the efficiency of coal power, which still dominates there and constitutes a certain independence from the spot markets. In the case of Poland, what contributed to this independence is the big lignite mining complex at Turow, which the EU insists be closed, lest Poland would have to pay a fine of €500,000/day. Poland defied this ruling, its first clear sign that it would not back down to EU arm-twisting.
The inefficiency of the German march into unreliable renewables has, by the way, in the past nine months seen a steady increase of the coal share of its national energy mix, the much-disliked coal being what has prevented a blackout for Germany so far.
