Estonia's July electricity costs up 20% from last year
In July, exchange‑traded electricity in Estonia was cheaper than in June, but compared with last July it was still about 20 percent more expensive. The higher price was caused mainly by a shortage of hydropower.
The electricity exchange price in Estonia in July was nearly 44 euros per megawatt‑hour, or 4.4 cents per kilowatt‑hour; with VAT included, the price per kilowatt‑hour was 5.45 cents, according to public data from elektribörsihind.ee.
Compared with June, the monthly average was almost one‑third (31.8 percent) cheaper, but compared with last July about 20 percent more expensive.
This July, the most expensive day was the first of the month, when the daily average with VAT was 11.2 cents per kilowatt‑hour. The cheapest exchange electricity was on July 26, when the daily average was 1.1 cents per kilowatt‑hour.
If the days are divided into time periods, electricity in July was cheapest between 14:00 and 17:00, and most expensive between 20:00 and 23:00.
Activation of fossil‑fuel plants inevitable
Tiit Hõbejõgi, member of the management board of Enefit, told ERR that the main driver of the year‑on‑year price increase was significantly lower hydropower production across the region.
"Due to the dry and often hot period, water levels in hydro reservoirs are low, and this affects the output of hydropower plants. For example, July's hydropower production in the Baltics was twice as low as last year," he said.
The dry period has especially affected Nordic hydropower production, reducing the Baltic states' ability to import cheaper electricity at times when local renewable production is insufficient, and forcing the activation of fossil‑fuel plants that offer more expensive electricity, Hõbejõgi added.
Last July, electricity imports accounted for nearly 30 percent of Baltic consumption, while this year the share was 18 percent.
In Finland, the July average exchange price without VAT was 15.4 euros per megawatt‑hour — nearly three times cheaper than in Estonia. In Latvia–Lithuania, the July average was three‑quarters higher than in Estonia, at 75 euros per megawatt‑hour.
Second‑quarter price slightly lower than last year
Looking at the second quarter of this year — April through June — electricity prices were two percent lower than last year. June's price, however, was clearly more than 50 percent higher than at the same time last year.
Elering's analysis showed that although renewable electricity produced in Estonia already covered more than half of domestic consumption in the second quarter, Estonia still depended on electricity imports: domestic production could not cover total consumption, and one‑third had to be imported. Production from April to June was 1.2 terawatt‑hours, consumption 1.8 terawatt‑hours.
In the second quarter, Estonia's net import was 629 gigawatt‑hours, or 34.1 percent of consumption. In the first quarter, net import was 41 percent.
If only electricity produced in Estonia is considered, renewable energy accounted for as much as 85 percent of production in the second quarter. Renewable production has also grown significantly in Latvia–Lithuania compared with previous years, meaning that although Estonia actually had greater production capacity available, the market determined that importing one‑third of electricity was more reasonable, said Elering board member Erkki Sapp.
It was also important that electricity connections with both Finland and Latvia operated at higher capacity than last year, and consumption decreased slightly (two percent).
Renewable production not increasing
However, compared with last year, Estonia's renewable electricity production did not increase: in the second quarter of 2025 it was 1048 gigawatt‑hours, and this year 1034 gigawatt‑hours.
Of renewable electricity production, the largest share — 52 percent — came from solar plants, whose output fed into the grid was 14 percent higher than in last year's second quarter. Wind power production, however, decreased by 15 percent compared with last year because there was less wind. Wind energy accounted for 27 percent of renewable production, and electricity produced from biomass, biogas and waste accounted for 21 percent. Hydropower production was marginal — five gigawatt‑hours, or less than one percent of renewable output.
Non‑renewable sources produced nearly 180 gigawatt‑hours of electricity during the second quarter, which was more than twice as little as in the same period last year. Because non‑renewable production fell significantly, the share of renewable electricity in Estonia's production rose from 72 percent to 85 percent.
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Editor: Argo Ideon
