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1. Why Power Prices Have Become So Volatile
Today, the market operates at a minute-level granularity and is heavily driven by:
- renewable generation (wind and solar),
- nuclear fleet availability,
- real-time demand,
- grid constraints.
A few orders of magnitude illustrate this paradigm shift:
- In 2025, the average spread between the cheapest and most expensive hour of the day reached 90 €/MWh, compared with less than 75 €/MWh in 2024.
- Prices exceeded 100 €/MWh 21% of the time in 2025, versus 16% in 2024.
- In 2025, there were 30% more negative prices than in 2024.
What This Means in Practice
The cost of electricity is no longer a simple average cost; it depends on the exact moment you consume.
Rescheduling certain operations or reorganizing more or less power-intensive product references based on power prices can be enough to optimize your electricity bill without changing your contract or your total consumption.
2. Power Contracts: A Strategic Lever, Not a Legal Detail
Many industrial players still think only in terms of “MWh price.”
That’s a mistake.
There are three main families of contracts, each with very different implications:
100% Spot
- Hourly price indexed on the wholesale market.
- High volatility, but access to low and negative prices.
- Maximum exposure to the market.
100% Fixed
- Stable price, budget visibility.
- Often higher than the average market price.
- No ability to benefit from price opportunities.
Blocks + Spot (the most common case)
- One portion secured at a fixed price.
- One portion exposed to the market.
- A good compromise if and only if, the exposure is actively managed.
A contract is only high-performing if it is actively managed; without active management, even a good contract can become a liability.
3. The Real Cost of Electricity: Beyond the Market Price
The spot price is only one component of the bill. The real cost of electricity also depends on:
- TURPE (network tariffs, contracted capacity, discounts),
- ARENH (until 2026),
- capacity guarantees,
- demand response mechanisms,
- self-consumption, PPAs or storage,
- and above all… the site’s load profile.
Two sites with the same contract can end up with very different actual costs.
Without a consolidated indicator, it is impossible to link a production decision to its true economic impact.
4. The Direct Impact on Industrial Margin
In many sectors, electricity accounts for 5 to 15% of production costs, and sometimes much more.
- With a fully fixed contract margin is protected… but capped
- With partial market exposure and active management 3 to 20% savings on the power bill are achievable
- When prices turn negative electricity can temporarily become a profit center, directly boosting margin
For a given production level, the timing of when you produce becomes a key competitiveness driver.
5. Turning the Power Market into a Competitive Advantage
The most advanced industrial players have changed their approach. They no longer suffer the market; they embed it in their decisions.
They do five essential things:
1️⃣ Monitor the market : Spot prices, trends, day-ahead signals.
2️⃣ Understand their load profile : Baseload, peaks, rigidities, room for manoeuvre around machine power.
3️⃣ Identify their real flexibility : Temporal shifting, modulation, scheduling, inventory levels, auxiliary operations.
4️⃣ Manage their market exposure : Avoid critical hours, capture opportunities.
5️⃣ Measure the value generated : To substantiate decisions and align teams.
The market then becomes a control parameter, just like volumes, quality, or lead times.
Conclusion: Understanding the Market Is Already Winning
The power market is no longer a fatality. It has become a performance lever for industrial sites capable of anticipating, adapting, and rallying their teams around power prices.
Volatility is no longer just a risk; it is an opportunity.
Provided you understand it and embed it in your production decisions.
Ready to turn electricity volatility into a competitive advantage for your plant? Let’s talk about how to put these levers into practice on your site.
