SPOT ELECTRICITY MARKET DURING THE WARTIME: CONSTANCY AND PRICE STABILITY

The Acting Director General of JSC "Market Operator" Oleksandr Havva told in his column for the Ekonomichna Pravda media about the electricity market work during the wartime and when the EU will be able to buy Ukrainian electricity :

The amount of 165 666,8 MWh was purchased on the spot electricity market of Ukraine - the day-ahead market on February 23, 2022.

This is regular average daily volume of electricity trades for this market segment. It shows that Ukrainian businesses did not have any expectations until 4 am that horrible Thursday that Russia would attack peaceful Ukraine without any reason.

The JSC “Market Operator”, that is responsible for electricity sale and purchase on both day-ahead and intraday markets, has followed the so-called “wartime footing” from the first war day.  

Our IT department has mobilized its efforts to counter cyber threats and DoS attacks. The Trade Department staff was transferred to a day-and-night duty mode for early response on any issues.

Those employees, who are not involved in operating process directly, have voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the voluntary processes.

The first three days were unstable for both DAM and IDM. Price volatility and a significant decrease of trade volumes were observed.

The peak fell on February 27. The price index of electricity base-load demand on DAM in the UES of Ukraine fell to 988.76 UAH / MWh, as well as daily traded value fell to a record low of 22 thousand MWh.

Coincidentally, Ukraine's energy system began its isolated from the occupiers' energy system operating on February 24.

The NERC was forced to react immediately. It was decided to raise the minimum DAM price caps and keep current IDM price caps. That made possible to stabilize situation on the spot market and support electricity producers during the wartime.

The price index of electricity base-load demand on DAM in the UES of Ukraine throughout March remained at 2223,82 UAH / MWh except one day.

During the first 8 days of March, trading volumes on the DAM had a relatively high level - the average daily value was 49 thousand MWh.

However, from March 9, trading volumes began to fall.  And the average daily value did not exceed 28 thousand MWh in the period of March 9-16 inclusively.

From March 17, the trading volumes began to grow gradually. By the end of the month they were focused on an average amount of 38.2 thousand MWh of electricity on a daily basis. In our opinion, business revitalization took place.

As a result, trading volume of kilowatts has amounted to 1 243 846,8 MWh at the Market Operator`s site in March.

Business has appreciated the advantage of DAM to come, sell and get 100% payment on the same day.

In total, UAH 3,4 billion was transferred to electricity sellers in March. There is another benefit for buyers - the opportunity to buy electricity at a transparent price.

The spot electricity market has become much more surplus until the war took place.

That’s why we started working to accelerate market coupling with the EU countries, considering the synchronization of the Ukrainian power system with the continental European network ENTSO-E, which took place on March 16 and certainly became a historic event for the Ukrainian power industry.

Technically, the Market Operator has been ready for this for a long time. Our trading site is close to the mechanism applied by the OKTE Slovak market operator.

The annual trading volume on both DAM and IDM is 50 TWh with a cost of EUR 2,6 billion. We work according to European standards, certified by the ISO 9001:2015 International quality certificate. We perform 100% of payments on a daily basis, including weekends.

And this is our competitive advantage. That’s why we are ready to organize our work as soon as possible after the official decision was made to introduce the market coupling.

There are some issues that should also be resolved at the legislative level. The VAT registration, for example, is an obstacle for foreign companies now. The transfer of all VAT has been shifted to the level of the electricity supplier in Europe and in Ukraine it is charged to each market participant separately.

Our proposal is to harmonize the tax legislation with the European one in the field of electricity trade as soon as possible, to solve the issue of negative prices and price caps.

The Market Operator has received many inquiries from the European companies on their readiness to come to Ukraine for electricity trading.

That is why we are in close contact with the European Commission and the Energy Community Secretariat to complete our homework jointly and relatively quickly.

So, while our Armed Forces bravely defend the right of Ukrainians for freedom and territorial integrity, we have been working 24/7 since the first day of the war to make electricity available for all critical infrastructure facilities in Ukraine.

We are working to make trade integration of the electricity markets of Ukraine and the EU countries closer. Nothing weakens an enemy more than the cohesion of the world and the belief in the victory over evil.

Glory to Ukraine!