Prompt Prices Fall on Lower Weekend Consumption

Central European day-ahead power fell on Friday as typically low demand at the weekend outweighed the effect of cooling temperatures, traders said.

On regional exchanges, Czech and Slovak electricity for Saturday fell 28 percent to 27.34 euros ($33.92) per megawatt hour, while day-ahead on Hungary's HUPX declined 12 percent to 45.04 euros.

Hungarian spot prices have traded well above their Czech and Slovak counterparts in recent months because of limited import capacity and power plant outages.

Data from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon showed forecasts for wind generation in Germany falling by about 600 megawatts to 5.7 gigawatts for Saturday and for solar production to rise 1 GW to 2.3 GW.

Further along the curve, the Czech front month rose 30 cents to 33.90 euros, and Hungarian power for December edged 5 cents higher to 43.85 euros in over-the-counter trade.

On the Prague-based Power Exchange Central Europe, the Czech Cal '15 rose 12 cents to 33.95 euros, and the Hungarian front year dipped 5 cents to 42.30 euros.

Around the region, the benchmark German Cal '15 contract climbed 18 cents higher to 34.45 euros in afternoon trade on Germany's EEX exchange.

German and Austrian power plant capacity is likely to rise by 1.8 percent by Nov. 14 and 3.0 percent by Dec. 5, data on the European Energy Exchange's website showed.

Russian gas company Gazprom said it had sent Ukraine a bill to prepay for 2 billion cubic metres of November gas supplies at a price of $378 per 1,000 cubic metres.

Day-ahead prices on Poland's POLPX exchange fell to 233.77 zlotys ($68.62) from 332.18 zlotys as bourse data showed planned and unplanned outages would fall to 5.5 GW from 6.0 GW from a day earlier.

Brent crude oil steadied around $83 a barrel, consolidating after several months of sharp falls as U.S. data pointed to stronger economic growth and as the dollar hit a four-year high.

European carbon futures were up 6 cents to 6.69 euros a tonne in afternoon trading.

(1 US dollar = 0.8060 euro) (1 US dollar = 3.4065 Polish zloty)

(Reporting by Michael Kahn; editing by Jane Baird)