To iron or not to iron at three in the morning? That was a year ago the conversation in the mouth of the majority of Spaniards. After months of doubts, stickers on the refrigerators and alerts on mobile phones, the effort required by the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) to rationalize energy spending and lower the electricity bill was volatilized in months.
Since then, the topic of conversation has been whether or not the light marks another all-time high. With the collapse of maritime transport, the closures due to covid and the war in Ukraine, the rise in energy prices has upset any forecast, in homes and governments. In Spain, on June 3, 2021, the price of a megawatt hour in the wholesale market reached 81.81 euros. Yesterday, a year later, marked 201 euros, 145% more. In between, it has come to exceed 574 euros (last November).
But despite the alarm, the truth is that those directly affected by this price escalation have barely been a third of consumers, just over ten million. Those whose contracts are regulated to the PVPC and therefore indexed to the volatility that marks the daily auction of the wholesale market.
The rest, more than 18 million users, have attended this show as mere spectators. Some because they already had contracts signed with marketers in the market at fixed prices, others because seeing the storm they took refuge in them. The alarms did not go with them. Until now.
The transfer to the fixed rate contract has continued throughout the year, but according to sources in the electricity sector there are a good number of them that were signed for one year and, therefore, they are due for review at the beginning of July. “We have the obligation to send them the letters with the new price one month before they expire. That is why now many people are receiving them”, they explain from one of the electricity companies that operate in Spain. They recognize that prices are higher. How many? “It depends on each client, their profile and conditions. Each one receives personalized information about their contract and is informed that they have the right to terminate it at no cost.
“The problem is that there is tremendous opacity. The companies are not obliged to inform any organization of the prices they offer in the case of revisions. They do have to register offers for new clients with the CNMC, but it is impossible to know what they do with the contracts of those who are already clients”, explains Enrique García, spokesperson for the Organization of Consumers and Users.
Faced with the impossibility of knowing the offers to which the electricity companies renew contracts, Facua has analyzed those offered to new users. Despite the fact that at the beginning of May the president of Iberdrola called consumers with a regulated electricity rate contract “fools”, the data compiled by Facua shows that “from the rates applied between May 1 and 13, a average user (with a consumption of 366 kWh per month and a contracted power of 4.4 kW) with a regulated contract (PVPC) would pay around 121.97 euros per month. That same user would have a more expensive bill with the stable price rates of that date from Repsol, CHC Energía, Holaluz, Gana Energía and TotalEnergies”.
The future does not look good for those who are in the fixed rate. All analysts agree that the upward trend in prices is going to continue and, as these fixed rate contracts expire, customers will be forced to pay more, since the electricity companies are going to adapt their costs to the new market environment . "Although, of course, the rise will be as tight as possible," say the large electricity companies.
"The cap on gas will once again put the regulated electricity rate (PVPC) well below the free market offers," they warn from Facua. They refer to the measure that the Government managed to start two months ago from the European Union as a method to stop the escalation of prices in the electricity bill, but which is still awaiting the approval of the European Commission to be applied.
Whatever it is, what seems clear is that it will be a relief for regulated price consumers. On the other hand, the moment of its start-up is key for free price contracts. It should be remembered that this agreement means that consumers will have to assume in their bills the difference between the 40 euros on average that gas has faced and the real cost of this raw material in the markets to compensate the combined cycle plants . "That is to say, that to update prices with the cost of the raw material, we will have to charge that toll that the Government has set," they point out from one of the electricity companies.
Come on, escaping from the rise is not easy, but to adjust the new bill as much as possible, there is a tool. The CNMC price comparator, where with the QR code on the bill you can find out which operator offers the best rate. Whenever you change companies. Because for renewals there is no possible comparison.
