The price of electricity has given a small break to Spanish households during the month of May. The electricity bill of an average household benefiting from the Voluntary Price for Small Consumers (PVPC) reaches 80.31 euros a few days after the end of May, which represents a decrease of 2.4% with respect to identical period in April, when it rose to 82.25 euros.
This is reflected in the electricity bill simulator of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC), which reveals that compared to last year, the bill rose by 2.5% since the receipt rose to 78 .36 euros in the same period of 2021.
The fall in the bill in May is explained by the fact that the electricity production price in the wholesale market has fallen slightly so far this month. Compared to last year, this cost has more than doubled.
Despite this latest decline, which is added to that of April when electricity fell by 30% after registering its historical record in March, the trend for a year has continued to be upward due to the high price of gas in international markets, along In addition, CO2 emission costs are also at their highest and this affects the price of producing energy with combined gas cycles, which, being the most expensive, end up setting the final price.
This evolution of the electricity price corresponds to the bill of an average consumer with a contracted power of 4 kilowatts (kW) and an annual demand of 3,240 kW hour (kWh).
In June 2021, the new system for forming tolls and the regulated costs of the receipt came into force, with the three billing time slots. To carry out the price simulation, a consumption of 30% has been calculated in peak hours, 25% in flat hours and the remaining 45% in off-peak hours.
These fluctuations in the price of electricity are basically caused by variations in the cost of production, which increases when there is little contribution from renewable generation sources such as water and wind and a lot from more expensive fossil sources, especially gas or charcoal. It is also affected by other factors such as the price of oil and CO2 emission rights.
Despite this moderation in prices compared to the March peak, prices are still soaring. In fact, the average price of electricity in the wholesale market will rise 27.67% this Monday compared to this Sunday and will again exceed the level of 200 euros megawatt hour (MWh) after nine consecutive days below this threshold.
Specifically, the price of electricity will be 206.62 euros/MWh this Monday, almost 45 euros more expensive than this Sunday's price, 161.84 euros, according to data published by the Iberian Energy Market Operator ( OMIE).
Thus, the maximum electricity price for tomorrow will be registered between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., with 250.20 euros/MWh, while the minimum for the day, of 169 euros/MWh, will take place between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. hours.
