Ukraine energy regulator to keep power spot price caps past Oct 31

The National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) of Ukraine has decided to extend the current price caps on three energy markets - day-ahead (DAM), intraday (IDM) and balancing (BM) - for an additional six months. This decision was made during a meeting on September 24 and will become effective on October 31, 2026. NEURC Chairman Yurii Vlasenko emphasized that this is a mere approval stage, encouraging interested parties to participate in the process.

The caps on the DAM and IDM will remain at UAH 15,000/MWh, while the cap on the BM will stay at UAH 17,000/MWh. The minimum price caps are set at UAH 10/MWh for the DAM and IDM, and UAH 0.01/MWh for the BM. These price caps were initially set by NEURC on April 23, 2026, and took effect on April 30. Prior to this, the caps for the DAM and IDM ranged from UAH 5,600/MWh to UAH 15,000/MWh, depending on the time of day, while the BM caps varied from UAH 6,600/MWh to UAH 16,000/MWh. The minimum cap remained at UAH 0.01/MWh during this period.

Previously, the caps were much lower. From January 18 to March 31, 2026, the DAM and IDM caps were UAH 15,000/MWh round-the-clock, while the BM cap was UAH 16,000/MWh. Following the increase to lower price caps from April 1, some representatives of the cogeneration industry expressed concerns that the higher caps did not accurately reflect the cost of electricity generation by gas-fired plants, discouraging new project launches and hindering the development of existing ones.