The day-ahead electricity market consists of one pan-European auction at noon for the next day (ACER's Preliminary Assessment of Europe's high energy prices and the current wholesale electricity market design, November 2021, p. 10).
According to the Annual Report of the ACER and CEER on the Results of Monitoring the Internal Electricity and Gas Markets in 2016 (Electricity Wholesale Markets Volume) published in October 2017, the EU Member States borders with the highest average day-ahead price differentials (euros/MWh) were as follows (2016 price differentials): NL->GB 16.9, AT->IT 13.7, FR->GB 12.4, DE->CH 8.9, AT->CH 8.9, DE->FR 7.8, DE->PL 7.5, NO-4->FI 7.4, NO-2->NL 7.1, SI->IT 7.0.
Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the internal market for electricity (recast),
Article 7
Day-ahead and intraday markets
1. Transmission system operators and NEMOs shall jointly organise the management of the integrated day-ahead and intraday markets in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2015/1222. Transmission system operators and NEMOs shall cooperate at Union level or, where more appropriate, at a regional level in order to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of Union electricity day-ahead and intraday trading. The obligation to cooperate shall be without prejudice to the application of Union competition law. In their functions relating to electricity trading, transmission system operators and NEMOs shall be subject to regulatory oversight by the regulatory authorities pursuant to Article 59 of Directive (EU) 2019/944 and ACER pursuant to Articles 4 and 8 of Regulation (EU) 2019/942.
2. Day-ahead and intraday markets shall: (a) be organised in such a way as to be non-discriminatory; (b) maximise the ability of all market participants to manage imbalances; (c) maximise the opportunities for all market participants to participate in cross-zonal trade in as close as possible to real time across all bidding zones; (d) provide prices that reflect market fundamentals, including the real time value of energy, on which market participants are able to rely when agreeing on longer-term hedging products; (e) ensure operational security while allowing for maximum use of transmission capacity; (f) be transparent while at the same time protecting the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information and ensuring trading occurs in an anonymous manner; (g) make no distinction between trades made within a bidding zone and across bidding zones; and (h) be organised in such a way as to ensure that all markets participants are able to access the market individually or through aggregation.
Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the internal market for electricity (recast),
Article 8
Trade on day-ahead and intraday markets
1. NEMOs shall allow market participants to trade energy as close to real time as possible and at least up to the intraday cross-zonal gate closure time.
2. NEMOs shall provide market participants with the opportunity to trade in energy in time intervals which are at least as short as the imbalance settlement period for both day-ahead and intraday markets.
3. NEMOs shall provide products for trading in day-ahead and intraday markets which are sufficiently small in size, with minimum bid sizes of 500 kW or less, to allow for the effective participation of demand-side response, energy storage and small-scale renewables including direct participation by customers.
4. By 1 January 2021, the imbalance settlement period shall be 15 minutes in all scheduling areas, unless regulatory authorities have granted a derogation or an exemption. Derogations may be granted only until 31 December 2024. From 1 January 2025, the imbalance settlement period shall not exceed 30 minutes where an exemption has been granted by all the regulatory authorities within a synchronous area.
organised by Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and Nominated Electricity Market Operators (NEMOs)
