Electricity glossary
Plain-language definitions for the wholesale-electricity terms we use across euenergy.
- Day-ahead electricity price — what it means and how it works →
The day-ahead electricity price is the wholesale price of one megawatt-hour of electricity, set the day before delivery via an auction across all European bidding zones. It clears every weekday around midday CET and is the reference price most consumer tariffs are based on.
- Bidding zone — what it is and why prices differ across Europe →
A bidding zone is a geographic area within which the wholesale electricity price is uniform, separated from neighbouring zones by transmission constraints. Europe has 41 ENTSO-E zones — most countries are one zone, but Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Ukraine split into multiple zones to reflect internal grid bottlenecks.
- Spot price — what does "spot" mean for electricity? →
In the European electricity market, "spot price" usually means the day-ahead price — the wholesale price set the day before delivery via auction. Some countries also use "spot" for the intraday market, where prices are continuously updated up until 1 hour before delivery.
- ENTSO-E — the European network of transmission system operators →
ENTSO-E is the association of 39 European Transmission System Operators (TSOs) covering 35 countries. It coordinates cross-border electricity flows, sets pan-European grid codes, and runs the Transparency Platform that publishes day-ahead prices, generation, and load data — the source euenergy uses.
- TSO — what is a transmission system operator? →
A TSO (Transmission System Operator) is the company that runs a country's high-voltage electricity grid: Statnett in Norway, Bundesnetzagentur-regulated TenneT/50Hertz/Amprion/TransnetBW in Germany, RTE in France, Terna in Italy, etc. Each TSO balances supply and demand in real time, runs day-ahead auctions, and manages cross-border flow.
- EUR/MWh vs EUR/kWh — how to convert wholesale to retail →
Wholesale electricity is quoted in EUR per megawatt-hour (EUR/MWh). To convert to consumer-friendly EUR per kilowatt-hour (EUR/kWh), divide by 1 000. So EUR 75 /MWh equals EUR 0.075 /kWh — that is the raw wholesale cost before retail margin, taxes and grid fees are added.