Cold Weather Boosts Spot, Near Curve Prices

Colder weather in the region pushed central European day ahead prices higher on Wednesday, offsetting a rise in renewables, traders said.

Czech electricity for Thursday ticked 20 cents higher to 43 euros ($53.79) per megawatt hour and Hungarian day ahead shot 7.25 euros higher to 54 euros in over-the-counter trade. On regional exchanges, Hungarian and Romanian prompt gained 4 percent to 51.83 euros.

Temperatures in the region over the past few days have been hovering around freezing following a mild start to the winter heating season, which has tempered heating demand.

Data from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon showed forecasts for wind generation in Germany rising to 5.3 gigawatts for Thursday from 4.8 gigawatts a day earlier, with the largest increase coming in the off-peak hours.

The colder temperatures also helped push up prices on the near curve with the Czech front month gaining 95 cents to 37.50 euros and Hungarian power for December climbing 80 cents to 45.15 euros.

On the Prague-based Power Exchange Central Europe, the Czech Cal '15 rose 5 cents to 35.55 euros and the Hungarian front year held steady at 43.45 euros.

The benchmark German Cal '15 contract gained 5 cents to 36.07 euros in afternoon trade on Germany's EEX exchange.

Serbia's has secured additional coal and electricity supplies to help offset an expected shortfall this winter after floods earlier this year pummelled its energy sector, power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) said.

Day ahead prices on Poland's POLPX exchange fell to 198.82 zlotys ($59.51) from 342.92 zlotys as data from the bourse showed an expected reduction in unplanned outages to 4.2 gigawatts for Thursday from 5.2 gigawatts. This included the return of an 865 megawatt unit at the Belchatow coal-fired power plant.

Brent crude oil dropped towards $77 per barrel after Iran signalled OPEC was unlikely to push for a major change in oil output despite a collapse in prices.

European Union carbon futures rose 3 cents to 7.15 euros a tonne in afternoon trading.

(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by William Hardy)