The influence of renewable sources was clearly evident again this week. At the beginning of the week, renewable energy production was low, resulting in a significant increase in electricity prices. In addition, EU figures show that Dutch electricity prices have risen the most by far.
The electricity price was relatively high at the beginning of this week, but fell sharply. On Tuesday, October 24, electricity traded for €115,30 per megawatt hour. Two days later, on Thursday, October 26, the price reached the highest point of the week, at €124,03. Prices took a big step back over the weekend. On October 28, the electricity price fell to €71,88.
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The price of electricity currently appears to be little influenced by renewable sources. Last week, energy prices remained relatively stable until the weekend. In the week of October 22 to 28, only 28,8% of electricity was generated by sun and wind. In total, 39,1% of all electricity was generated by gas in that week. Now that the gas price has reached a fairly constant level of around €50 per megawatt hour, this is once again proving to be an expensive affair, although adding coal-fired power stations prevents excessive costs.
In total, coal-fired power stations accounted for 13,3% of demand last week. The fact that the price of coal fell in October helps. At the end of September, the price of coal was around $160 per tonne, according to the Newcastle Coal quote. The price is now around $135. From Saturday, both solar and wind energy production increased significantly, which clearly put pressure on electricity prices. On Sunday, October 29, a record was even broken. On that day, almost 70% of the entire demand was covered by wind turbines.
Dutch record increase
In addition, the European Union notes that prices have leveled off since the peak in September 2022. However, there is still a clear increase in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period a year earlier. On average, the electricity price for consumers in the European Union rose from €25,30 per 100 megawatts to €28,90, an increase of 12,5%.
These prices include tax. Without taxes, there is a decrease over the same period. The increase can therefore largely be attributed to the phasing out of tax benefits that were introduced immediately after the invasion of Ukraine. It is remarkable that the Dutch price increase is so high that it single-handedly raises the average of the European Union. In the Netherlands, the electricity price increased by no less than 953%. According to the European Union, high Dutch energy taxes play a leading role in this increase. This makes the relative increase almost eleven times as high as that of number 2 Lithuania, which experienced an increase of 88%. The price per 100 kilowatt hours is €47,50, almost twice the European average.