A battery has 2.1 times as much to work with in Hungary as in Britain

The spread is the gap inside one day. Take the day-ahead auction result for a day, average its eight dearest quarter hours, average its eight cheapest, and subtract. A two hour battery fills in the cheap quarter hours and empties in the dear ones, so the spread is the most it can be paid per megawatt hour of storage for one cycle, before losses and wear. The spread and the price are different numbers: a country can be dear all day and still give a battery little to do.

EPEX SPOT has published this figure as its TB2 index since July 2026 and sells it by subscription. EEX has settled TB2 futures on it since September. The figure here is the same arithmetic on the same auction results, computed by us from the regulators’ open data, and free. Britain and Switzerland still run hourly auctions, so for them the two dearest hours less the two cheapest stand in for the eight quarter hours, which is how EEX defines its British contract too.

Hungary gives a battery the most, southern Norway the least

the year’s average where eight days in ten fell the latest day

The daily spread, €/MWh, 19 October 2025 to 18 October 2026, one row per country, in order of the year’s average. The tick is the latest day held: 18 October 2026 for most countries, 17 October 2026 for Britain, whose settled prices arrive two days later. Britain’s row is Elexon’s market index, the within-day price, because the day-ahead auction result may not be shown yet; it is close to the other rows without being the same auction. Britain is converted from pounds at the ECB rate on 16 October 2026, €1 = £0.844.

The spread rose in every country in March

The average spread per day in each month, €/MWh, darker where wider. The table scrolls sideways. In March solar came back, the midday price fell away from the evening, and the spread widened in every country at once. The year column is the last 365 days.

Britain is 8th of 19 on the price of power and 17th on the spread

Countries are usually compared on the average price of power. A battery earns from the swing within the day, and the two orders differ. Northern Italy has the dearest power on this page and sits 18th on the spread. Both of Britain’s figures are its market index rather than the auction, so its place in each order is close rather than exact.

The average day-ahead price and the average daily spread over the same year, €/MWh, in order of price. The last column divides the spread by the price: how much of what a country pays for power is swing within the day.

Each country, a year of days

The faint line is each day and the bold line the seven day average, on one scale for every country, so a flat line is a flat market. The scale fits the seven day average everywhere; single days that run off the top are counted on the chart.

Hungary year average €183, latest day €204

Poland year average €160, latest day €75

Slovenia year average €149, latest day €98

Czechia year average €144, latest day €113

Germany year average €143, latest day €84

Netherlands year average €142, latest day €151

Austria year average €139, latest day €87

Denmark, east year average €135, latest day €85

Belgium year average €133, latest day €130

Denmark, west year average €129, latest day €77

France year average €122, latest day €179

Spain year average €118, latest day €181

Portugal year average €114, latest day €181

Sweden, south year average €113, latest day €109

Ireland, all island year average €111, latest day €189

Switzerland year average €94, latest day €49

Great Britain year average €89, latest day €140

Italy, north year average €85, latest day €85

Norway, south year average €69, latest day €38

What a battery actually earned is on the British pages

This page shows what the prices offered. It cannot show what any one battery took. For Britain that record exists: what each battery was paid, measured on the lines anyone can check, and tomorrow’s price, published each morning and scored on every day that settles. For Italy, every project the public record names and the grid as it runs.

Not shown yet, and why

A day-ahead price belongs to the exchange that runs the auction, and most exchanges want written consent before it appears anywhere else. This page shows the countries whose prices may be shown today: fifteen zones from the German regulator’s open data, Spain and Portugal from OMIE’s, Ireland from SEMOpx’s under EirGrid’s open licence, and Britain from Elexon’s. The rest join as the answers arrive.

• Lithuania: Litgrid publishes the price as open data, but its feed stopped on 5 October 2025, the week the auction moved to quarter hours. Lithuania joins when the feed resumes or when Nord Pool answers.
• The rest of Italy: GME was asked on 4 October 2026; no answer yet.
• Estonia, Latvia, Finland and the rest of Norway and Sweden: Nord Pool was asked on 4 October 2026; no answer yet.
• Greece: HEnEx was asked on 4 October 2026; no answer yet.
• Croatia: CROPEX was asked on 4 October 2026; no answer yet.
• Serbia: SEEPEX was asked on 4 October 2026; no answer yet.
• Bulgaria: IBEX was asked on 4 October 2026; no answer yet.
• Romania: OPCOM was asked on 4 October 2026; no answer yet.

Sources and method

• Germany, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Hungary, northern Italy, the Netherlands, southern Norway, Poland, southern Sweden, Switzerland and Slovenia: the day-ahead price by quarter hour from SMARD, the Bundesnetzagentur’s open data portal, licence CC BY 4.0. Source: Bundesnetzagentur | SMARD.de.
• Spain and Portugal: the day-ahead price by quarter hour from OMIE’s daily price file, used under its legal notice with the source named. Fuente: OMIE.
• Ireland and Northern Ireland, one all-island price: the day-ahead result by half hour from SEMOpx, under the EirGrid Group open data licence. Supported by EirGrid Group Data.
• Great Britain: Elexon’s market index price, half hour by half hour, the series the rest of this site prices batteries against. It is the price of power traded within the day, so Britain’s row is close to the others without being the same auction; a day-ahead figure will replace it when one may be published. Converted to euros at the ECB reference rate on the day the data was last written.
• The spread for a day is the average of its eight dearest quarter hours less the average of its eight cheapest, on the day as the exchange defines it, which is EPEX SPOT’s TB2 definition. The European day-ahead auction moved to quarter hours on 1 October 2025; for the few days before that in the window, and for Switzerland, each hour counts four times and the formula gives the two hour figure on hours. Ireland’s auction is half hourly, so Ireland is the four dearest half hours less the four cheapest. Britain’s auction is hourly and its market index is half hourly, so Britain is the two dearest hours less the two cheapest on hourly means, which is how EEX defines its British TB2 future. Days with fewer than 22 hours reported are left out. The month by month figure is the average of the days in the month; the year is the last 365 days to 18 October 2026. The values are our own computation. EPEX SPOT publishes its own index separately, by subscription.
• Countries with more than one price zone are shown by one zone, named in the row: both Danish zones, the southern zones of Norway and Sweden, the northern zone of Italy. Other zones join as their licences allow.

Data to 18 October 2026, refreshed every morning. Every average on this page covers 19 October 2025 to 18 October 2026.