As an important part of the energy market liberalisation process in Hungary, the national TSO, MAVIR, established the Hungarian Power Exchange (HUPX), a company limited by shares, as its subsidiary in 2010. HUPX Ltd. is the operator of the organised Hungarian spot power market with a leading position in Central and Eastern Europe. HUPX is licensed as a NEMO (Nominated Electricity Market Operator) by the National Regulatory Authority of Hungary (MEKH).

The adopted framework promotes the development of liquid energy markets in Hungary and the wider region. The core activity of HUPX – providing reference prices and an exchange trading platform – is effectively contributing to the development of the Hungarian electricity market. For the development of the market, it is important that a significant portion of electricity trading happens through the secure system of the organised exchange. To this end, a proper legal framework is necessary, as well as transparent trading conditions, fair access for all participants, efficient use of resources and clear reference settlement prices. Transaction costs should offer good value-for-money.

Transparent, unified market mechanisms and liberalised market operations contribute to the security of domestic energy supply, the cost-effectiveness of energy trading and help drive growth and investments in the electricity sector. The organised electricity market operated by HUPX Ltd. contributes to the efficiency of total domestic production and to fair electricity prices for consumers.

On the HUPX DAM (day-ahead market) standard hourly and block day-ahead electricity products can be traded. The HUPX DAM participates in the market coupling project (4M MC) between the Czech, Slovak, Hungarian and Romanian markets.

4M MC is a day-ahead implicit allocation method based on Available Transfer Capacity (ATC) that seeks to maximise compatibility with the EU target model, while the 4M solution can be considered as an intermediate step towards the Central and Eastern European and “CORE” regional solution.

To support the further development of the Hungarian electricity market, trading and delivery must occur as close as possible to real time. To this end, HUPX established the Intraday Market (IDM), which started operation on 9 March 2016.

To increase the efficiency of intraday trading, HUPX joined the XBID project and went live with the European Single Intraday Coupling (SIDC) solution on 19 November 2019. This resulted in an immediate and significant increase in HUPX’s intraday volumes – the traded volume in the first half an hour alone of trading was already approximately three times higher than a usual trading day on the IDM prior to joining XBID.