Electricity will be consumed in Serbia this week as if it were winter, the authorities announced. For 105 gigawatt-hours of electricity, the country spends from seven to 12 million euros per day, if you look at prices on the stock exchange
Expectations are that daily consumption electricity in Serbia this hot week will be between 100 and 105 gigawatt-hours, which is slightly less than during the coldest period of winter.
If this quantity were to be bought on the market at electricity exchange, the price of 105 gigawatt-hours of electricity would be between seven and 12 million euros, depending on market conditions.
In periods of low prices, when electricity costs on average around 70 euros per megawatt-hour, one such day of intense consumption in Serbia costs around 7,35 million euros. If the price is higher than 105 euros per megawatt-hour, then electricity for a day costs the country up to 12 million euros.
The price of electricity on the Serbian power exchange SEEPEX on August 2 was an average of 112 euros per megawatt-hour, while the average for August 3 was similar. These prices are increasing day by day, and the highest amount was around 185 euros per megawatt-hour.
Nevertheless, it is assumed that Serbia does not buy electricity in the periods of the day when it is the most expensive, and that it also has some supplies, which it bought in the days and periods of the year when it was the most favorable.
This year, the Serbian Electricity Exchange introduced i negative electricity prices, so those for delivery on June 7, before the big heat wave, sank at the hourly level to minus 45,5 euros per megawatt-hour. This is the first deep penetration into negative territory, below zero, for this segment of the market in Serbia.
Serbia stores electricity primarily through reversible hydroelectric power plants, while modern large battery systems are still in the planning and development phase. The main and largest storage capacity in the country is the RHE "Bajina Bašta", where the surplus of cheaper electricity is used to pump water into the upper lakes, and the water is later released to produce electricity at times of peak demand.
The reversible hydroelectric power plant "Bajina Bašta" has a maximum power of 614 megawatts with a possible average annual production of over one billion kilowatt hours of electricity.
That's why Serbia is working on building two more such hydropower plants - RHE "Bistrica" and RHE "Đerdap 3". The first should have a capacity of 650 megawatts, and the second up to 2.400. The first should be built by the Japanese, and the second by the Americans.
Until now, the highest summer electricity consumption was officially measured in 2024, when 105,8 gigawatt-hours of electricity were consumed, according to data from the Serbian Electricity Network. The most electricity is consumed in the area of big cities - Belgrade, Novi Sad and Niš, and the fact that people do not turn off air conditioners at home and at work due to high temperatures during the night has the greatest influence on high consumption.
Compared to the previous year, we had ten percent higher spending then, and it only increases year after year. EMS said at the time that the trend of electricity consumption growth is similar in all countries in the surrounding area compared to the period before the tropical heat. Consumption is up everywhere by ten to 12 percent.
The Ministry of Energy and the Government of Serbia have issued an urgent appeal to citizens to rationally consume electricity due to the extreme heat wave and the low water level of the Danube, which is hampering the operation of hydropower plants.
The Prime Minister of Serbia, Đuro Macut, announced that a meeting of the Headquarters for Emergency Situations will be held on Monday due to the high temperatures in Serbia and the situation with the water level in the country, and appealed to citizens to reduce electricity consumption in the next ten days.
"The issue is the water level, i.e. high temperatures. As a result, the water level is low, but in addition, the production of electricity is also threatened. It is stable for now, but at a low level, and we need to appeal to our fellow citizens to reduce the use of large consumers of electricity, air conditioners, individually in their homes," Macut told reporters after the opening of the "Serbia is calling you" camp.
He also said that by reducing the use of large consumers of electricity, the need to take reserves that Serbia has thanks to the hydroelectric power plant on the Danube would be reduced, that is, that they are not used beyond their capacity.
"The appeal is to reduce electricity consumption. This appeal will last for the next ten days, because a heat wave is expected in the next 10 days," said Macut.
The Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Đedović Handanović, stated that due to the low water level of the Danube, electricity production at the Đerdap 1 hydropower plant is at 20 percent capacity, adding that all employees in the energy sector are committed to overcoming the drought situation, and appealed to citizens to use electricity rationally.
An air conditioning repairman advised earlier readers of "Vremena" how to they use the air conditioner most economically – to let it work without stopping.
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