Belgium experienced on Saturday several hours of negative wholesale electricity prices for the second consecutive day.
Saturday’s electricity, due for delivery on Sunday between 11h-16h, had negative prices, reaching the most severe levels between 13h-14h.
At that moment, customers would effectively receive 53.61 euros per megawatt-hour drawn from the network.
Prices on Friday also dipped into the negative for electricity delivered between 12 noon and 16h, with the lowest rate of -18.26 euros per megawatt-hour between 14h – 15h.
This negative pricing is attributed to an excess of wind and solar energy production, coupled with lower electricity demand over the weekend.
This phenomenon is becoming increasingly frequent due to the growth of renewable energy production.
However, this negative pricing primarily affects energy suppliers and large electricity consumers such as big businesses. Households see little benefit from these wholesale negative prices, except those with a dynamic electricity contract.
According to data from the Flemish energy regulator VREG, only 0.2% of Flemish households were affected in the second quarter of this year.
