Overview

• Northern state premiers including Peter Tschentscher, Daniel Günther, Andreas Bovenschulte and Dietmar Woidke have relaunched calls to split Germany’s unified electricity bidding zone into regional price areas.
• The federal government has reiterated its coalition-agreement pledge to maintain a single national bidding zone, a position voiced by a spokesperson for the Economy Ministry.
• Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and municipal utilities warn that dividing the zone would drive up wholesale prices in the industrial south and increase market volatility and investment uncertainty.
• ENTSO-E’s May report advised up to five price zones to reflect local supply-demand imbalances, projecting north-south wholesale price differentials alongside overall efficiency gains.
• Germany must secure consensus with EU neighbours by the end of the year or face a European Commission decision on its power market design.