Global Pandemics on European Electrical Energy Markets

Global pandemics cause crises influencing all branches of economies. Basing on the currently striking COVID-19 pandemic, the authors analyze in this paper to what extent they may impact selected European electrical energy markets. For this, this research performs an empirical survey of the evolution of three market condition indicators: power demand, day-ahead energy prices, and prices of shares of power companies active in the generation sector. These are analyzed on examples of four European countries that all reacted differently to the spreading epidemic at governmental level: Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Sweden. The evolution of indicators is analyzed for the period of COVID-19 outbreak in Europe, from January 27th 2020 until May 27th 2020 and checked with their behaviors in previous periods of time statistically. The study showed that global pandemics may have high impact on power demand and on share prices of power companies. Yet, the impact on day ahead energy prices is less evident and seems not present.