Intraday electricity auctions and opportunity to trade electricity every quarter-hour, which were introduced by the market operator during the last days of June, have a positive effect on electricity prices. Already in the first half of July, there was a further increase in trades on the intraday electricity markets organized by OTE. In July 2024, daily average volume of 16,600 MWh was traded on these markets (≈ average annual consumption of 6,600 households). This fact led to a reduction in the cost of imbalance. Intraday auctions, together with the possibility to trade every quarter-hour, are therefore a very good tools for electricity traders. This increases the possibilities to react more efficiently and quickly to the current situation on the market and to contribute to the overall reduction of the electricity price. This type of trading contributes to the further development of renewable sources, the introduction of electricity sharing, accumulation and the provision of flexibility aggregation services. Traders and producers have a continuous overview of the current situation on the market, are more active and thus create greater pressure to achieve the most favourable price.

"The introduction of a new way of trading through intraday auctions across Europe and the transition to a quarter-hour imbalance settlement and trading period in the Czech Republic extends the possibilities of integrating renewable resources and consideration of the effect of weather on their production. There is also additional opportunity on the consumption side to respond to price movements, with an effort to reduce prices for consumers," says Michal Puchel, Chairman of the Board of Directors of OTE, a.s.

"Intraday electricity auctions are a new tool that also effectively allocates available transmission capacity to bidding zones so that the obtained prices of cross-border capacities in individual bidding zones reflect their shortage at a given time and thus send additional price signals to the market. Simply put, both traders and producers have a better overview of current price signals, which motivates them to buy and sell electricity. As a result, the entire market is more effective and creates pressure to find a balanced electricity price," says Igor Chemišinec, vice chairman of the board of OTE, a.s.

Intraday auctions take place in cooperation with other EU market operators (NEMOs) and transmission system operators every day at 3:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. As part of its intraday market trading platforms, OTE allows market participants to trade 15 and 60-minute continuous products and in intraday auctions. Traders and producers use these tools every day. The current ratio of individual trading options is 70% for intraday products with a 60-minute period, 20% for a 15-minute period and 10% for intraday auctions. In total, 2.715.000 MWh of electricity was traded on the intraday and day ahead electricity market in July, which for an idea was the net electricity consumption of two large regions of the Czech Republic for the last quarter of 2023.
_{The press release is available as a PDF here.}