Energy Community monitoring data for the third quarter show combined day-ahead trading across organised Western Balkan exchanges reached 2.97 TWh, up 26.7% year on year and 10.2% quarter on quarter. The increase came even as scheduled cross-border electricity exchanges between the region and the European Union weakened. Day-ahead traded electricity amounted to approximately 23% of regional load, compared with 19% in the comparable period of 2025.
The figures point to greater use of organised power exchanges, but do not establish improved access to the EU market or higher cross-border trading margins. Electricity can be traded on local exchanges while export deliveries remain constrained by carbon-related costs, transmission availability and cross-border scheduling conditions. Some sales to EU markets have become more difficult economically because of these factors.
Greater exchange liquidity can improve price discovery and market access for renewable-energy producers entering merchant power markets. However, it cannot replace documentation needed to support eligible actual-emissions treatment under the EU electricity Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) rules. The commercial value of access to European buyers remains dependent on carbon costs, interconnector conditions and verifiable delivery arrangements.
In Serbia, SEEPEX provides organised market access. Traded-volume developments there also need to be assessed alongside export-price differences and the ability to deliver electricity physically across borders.
In Montenegro, rising regional exchange activity coincided with stronger electricity exports to Italy, with market opportunities varying by delivery route and generation portfolio. The figures warrant updates to trading-liquidity assumptions, cross-border margin models, electricity forecasting and renewable power-purchase agreement risk assessments. Exchange activity alone does not determine whether electricity can be delivered across a border or sold at a commercially viable price.