Last week, the price of electricity in Estonia's price region averaged €422.61 per megawatt-hour, which is more than 19 percent higher than the week before.

In that time period, Baltic Power Plant's 11th block and Estonia Power Plant's fourth, fifth and sixth blocks were all offline for scheduled maintenance that had been announced well in advance. Auvere Power Plant was likewise undergoing maintenance before returning to the market on Saturday, August 20.

Despite the fact that most of these blocks have since returned to the market, with scheduled maintenance only still underway on Estonia Power Plant's fifth block, the daily average price of electricity in Estonia's price region on the Nord Pool exchange was €377 on Monday, €495 on Tuesday and, according to the exchange's day-ahead prices, is €418.88 per megawatt-hour on Wednesday.

"In short, we're at pretty much the same price level as the rest of the Nord Pool region today — at the exact same price as in Finland during most hours and somewhat cheaper than in Latvia and Lithuania," Eesti Energia spokesperson Mattias Kaiv told ERR on Wednesday.

The electricity produced by Eesti Energia's power plants and wind farms cover only a portion of overall demand, and prices are dictated by the latest plants to reach the market, Kaiv explained, adding that a significant factor impacting the entire region's low supply is the low yield of hydroelectric plants and high price of natural gas in the region.

Several plants awaiting maintenance

This weekend, Eesti Energia will begin scheduled maintenance on the third block of one of its power plants. Over the next few weeks, scheduled maintenance is slated to continue at several other power plants in the region as well, thus improving their reliability ahead of the fall-winter period.

The second block of Finland's Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant, which has a capacity of 507 megawatts, will be undergoing scheduled maintenance through September 9. The third block of the country's new Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant is slated to be brought back online Wednesday.

In Sweden, the fourth block of Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant is undergoing scheduled maintenance through September 7.

The hourly price of electricity on the market is established based on that precise hour's production capacity and consumers' demand.

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