> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.engrate.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Imbalance

The imbalance response provides an aggregated view of the difference between scheduled and actual energy for an entire [Clearing Period](/api-reference/settlement-management/models/clearing-period), broken down by day.

## Calculation

For each day in the settlement month:

1. **Scheduled energy** — the total energy declared in your accepted schedules for that day
2. **Actual energy** — the total metered energy from MSCONS settlement data
3. **Imbalance** — actual minus scheduled (positive = actual exceeded scheduled, i.e. more consumption or less generation than declared)

The per-day imbalances are then aggregated to produce period-level totals.

## Cost calculation

The `total_imbalance_cost_eur` field represents the financial impact of your imbalance, calculated using reBAP [Control Energy Prices](/api-reference/settlement-management/models/control-energy-price). Each quarter-hourly imbalance interval is multiplied by the corresponding reBAP price, then summed across the month.

## Daily breakdown

The `daily_imbalances` array contains one `DailyImbalance` entry per day, each with:

| Field           | Description                                |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| `date`          | Settlement date                            |
| `scheduled_mwh` | Total scheduled energy for this day        |
| `actual_mwh`    | Total actual (metered) energy for this day |
| `imbalance_mwh` | Difference (actual minus scheduled)        |