MADRID, 23 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The average price of electricity for regulated tariff customers linked to the wholesale market will fall this Saturday, December 23, by 9.94% compared to Friday’s data, to 46.62 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).
The maximum price, of 74.61 euros/MWh, will be recorded between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., while the minimum price, of 23.17 euros/MWh, will be recorded between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., according to provisional data. of the Iberian Energy Market Operator (OMIE) collected by Europa Press.
So far in December, the average price of the electricity pool is almost 71 euros/MWh, compared to the 96.95 euros/MWh that it marked on average in the last month of 2022.
Compensation to the gas companies would be added to the average price of the ‘pool’, which has to be paid by the consumers who are beneficiaries of the measure, the consumers of the regulated tariff (PVPC) or those who, despite being in the free market, They have an indexed rate, but it is once again at 0 euros/MWh, a situation that has been repeated since February 27.
The so-called ‘Iberian exception’ was extended until December 31, following the agreement reached by Spain and Portugal with the European Commission. Thus, it lasted seven months, until the end of this year, when it will finally decline, as announced this Tuesday by the third vice president and Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera.
The agreement not only represented an extension of the Iberian exception that was already applied, but also implied some adjustments to accommodate it, such as the price reference, which until then had increased by five euros per month, and became softer.
In the original agreement, the aforementioned reference price for gas had an average value of 48.8 euros/MWh: it was 40 euros/MWh for six months, rising 5 euros/MWh each month thereafter. It has increased by 1.1 euros/MWh since last April, ending at 65 euros/MWh.
Currently, the mechanism has not had any effect on the marginal matching processes in the wholesale markets since the end of February due to the drop in the price of natural gas below the thresholds set for its application, but, if necessary, the extension allows maintaining a reasonable price, not so dependent on the evolution of natural gas.
Finally, the ‘Iberian’ mechanism will decline on December 31, after noting that the European Commission considers that it is not “possible to put it into practice.”
“The extension of the Iberian mechanism, which in principle ends on December 31, requires an approval procedure from the Directorate General of Competition of the European Commission, which made it clear that it understood that beyond December 31 of this year it was not possible. put it into practice,” the vice president reported at a press conference after the meeting of European Energy Ministers.
Ribera argued that prices have stabilized and are below the figures that were recorded at the end of last year, when this extraordinary price control instrument came into action.
Sources from the Ministry assume that the measure will expire when December expires, after pointing out that Spain already expected that the extension negotiated with Brussels before the summer was the last one, taking into account that the instrument has not had any effect on the marginal cassation processes in wholesale markets since the end of February.
