Electricity prices climb to more than 600 euros per megawatt hour

Dusseldorf Electricity prices have been rising steadily for months. Now they are reaching a new record level for the winter: one megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity for the fourth quarter now costs almost 600 euros on the stock exchange. At times even more.

Compared to the previous year, this is an increase of over 580 percent. “The market is obviously expecting a shortage for the next two winters,” says Fabian Huneke from the market research company Energy Brainpool, explaining the extreme increase.

For months, the rising prices for fossil fuels such as gas and coal have also been driving electricity prices higher and higher. Whenever the demand cannot be covered by nuclear and coal-fired power plants alone, gas-fired power plants step in by the hour. Due to the currently very high procurement costs for the raw material and a lower level of efficiency, the expensive gas-fired power plants set the pace on the stock exchange.

Electricity price development: Gas prices ensure high electricity prices in Germany