IT Glitch Sends German Power Price Soaring to 22-Month High

(Bloomberg) -- An IT glitch on Europe’s biggest power exchange caused the German power price to jump to the highest since August 2022 on Tuesday.

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The issue caused several countries to de-link, Epex Spot said by phone. Day-ahead power cleared at €492.04 ($526.41) per megawatt-hour, while the price in neighboring France dropped to €2.96, creating the widest spread on record between the two countries, the data show.

France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland were decoupled, according to Epex.

Day-ahead power markets in central-western Europe have been linked for almost a decade. In market coupling, an algorithm matches supply and demand across borders, sending electricity to where prices are highest and enabling maximum use across the region of low-cost wind or solar energy. The IT issue impacted this process on Tuesday.

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