Ukraine tops Europe's day-ahead power price index 10 times in early Aug
Between August 1 and 15, Ukraine ranked first in Europe in the average daily BASE price index on the day-ahead electricity market (DAM) on 10 occasions (August 2–4, 6, 8–11, and 13–14), out of 26 European countries tracked.
According to ENTSO-E data, Italy led the index on five other days during the same period (August 1, 5, 7, 12, and 15).
On August 14, Ukraine posted the highest BASE load price index in Europe on the DAM at UAH 6,230.43/MWh, while the lowest was in Norway at UAH 1,707.29/MWh. On August 15, Italy held the top spot with UAH 5,390.87/MWh, while the lowest was in Finland at just UAH 115.66/MWh.
Former Energy Minister Olha Buslavets said the main factors driving Ukraine's electricity prices to the highest in Europe since the start of the year are the monopoly position of state-owned Energoatom, which produces over half of Ukraine's electricity, and the country's limited electricity imports.
Separately, the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) on July 31, 2025, increased by 1.6 times the price caps on the DAM during peak hours (5 p.m. to 11 p.m.) to ensure import parity and encourage maximum volumes of commercial electricity imports into Ukraine.
Specifically, the caps for the DAM and intraday market from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. were raised from UAH 9,000/MWh to UAH 15,000/MWh, and for the balancing market from UAH 10,000/MWh to UAH 16,000/MWh.
Media reports citing Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) Chairman Pavlo Kyrylenko said the AMCU has launched a large-scale study of electricity prices on the market from May to mid-June 2025.
ENTSO-E data show that in July 2025, Ukraine topped Europe's DAM BASE index five times (July 18, 27–30). In June, Ukraine led six times (June 1, 7, 8, 10, 28, and 29), in May 11 times (May 1–8, 11, 17, and 25), and in April five times (April 16, 17, 27, 28, and 29).
In July 2025, Ukraine's average DAM BASE load price index stood at UAH 5,184.24/MWh, up 11.1% from June and marking the third consecutive month of price growth.
For all of 2024, Ukraine ranked third among 27 European countries in the average DAM BASE index, at UAH 4,522.87/MWh, calculated in Central European Time (CET).