Heat Wave Sends European Power Prices Surging From U.K. to Spain

  • Electricity prices in Spain rose to record on cooling demand
  • High gas, carbon prices had already sent power costs higher

Photographer: Rupert Hartley/Bloomberg

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Scorching heat is boosting electricity prices across Europe, adding to a long list of factors that have sent power costs surging this summer.

The extreme temperatures are boosting demand for cooling at a time consumption was already rising as the world emerges from the global pandemic. Spanish day-ahead power surged to a record, while prices in the U.K. climbed for a fifth day, the longest rising streak in more than a month, and German next-day rates were double the five-year seasonal average.