Universal Registration Document 2020

Average annual contract prices for baseload and peakload electricity declined all over Europe in the first half of 2020, before showing an upward trend towards the end of the year. These changes are principally explained by movements in commodity prices and in France, announcements concerning the generation fleet, particularly nuclear facilities.

In France, the average annual contract baseload price for next-year delivery was
€ 44.9/MWh, down by 11.7% from 2019. This downturn masks a downward trend that followed movements in commodity prices, which were low in the first half-year due to surplus worldwide fossil resources and the aggravating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, but then recovered from the summer in response to prospects of an end to the crisis. Prices were also influenced by announcements concerning the nuclear generation fleet, containing successive adjustments to the nuclear power target and news of a maintenance schedule designed to ensure the highest possible generation for the winter of 2020-21.

In the United Kingdom, the April Ahead contract baseload price for 1 April Y+1 to
31 March Y+2 was down by 17.1% to an average € 48.4/MWh for 2020. As in France, UK prices were significantly lower year-on-year in the first half of the year, then recovered when gas and CO₂ prices stopped falling, since gas-fired plants make a significant contribution to formation of electricity prices in the UK.

In Italy, the annual contract baseload price for next-year delivery also declined, averaging € 49.2/MWh for 2020, down by -17.8% from 2019. This substantial decrease is associated with the fall in commodity prices at the heights of the
Covid-19 crisis. CO₂ prices, which were still volatile, provided steady support for electricity price levels as a result of the high gas component in the Italian electricity mix.

In Germany, the average annual contract baseload price for next-year delivery was down by 15.8% from 2019, to an average € 40.2/MWh in 2020. This decrease is explained by the movements in fuel and CO₂ prices, since coal-fired facilities still make a significant contribution to the formation of German electricity prices and are more strongly affected than gas-fired facilities by rises in CO₂ prices. The forward price under the 2021 annual contract ended the year at € 48.2/MWh, sustained by the level of CO₂ prices.

In Belgium, the annual contract baseload price for next-year delivery was 20.1% lower than in 2019, standing at an average € 40.7/MWh in 2020. The decrease was particularly pronounced in the first half of the year due to a decline in fuel prices.

Principal forward electricity prices in Europe (baseload year ahead), in €/MWh

5.1.2.1.3 CO₂ emission rights prices ⁽¹⁾

In 2020 the average price of CO₂ emission certificates for delivery in December Y+1 was € 25.1/t (-0.4% or -€ 0.1/t compared to 2019). This relative stability masks high price volatility, partly related to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and partly to negotiations over the European Union climate targets for 2030, which were widely interpreted and followed by speculators. The price collapsed in March when lockdown measures were imposed in Europe, losing € 8.4 in a single week. From April, the price responded positively to announcements of measures to restart the national economies and ecological political signals, twice exceeding € 30/t (in July and in September). Late in the year, announcements concerning vaccination and the European Union’s adoption of higher emission-reduction targets for 2030 which were raised to 55%, continued to drive quota prices up and they ended the year at
€ 32.7/t.