The July electricity bill for an average consumer covered by the regulated rate or PVPC It will be the third most expensive in historydue to high wholesale market prices caused by high temperatures and the energy crisis facing Europe, and despite the implementation of the gas cap.
For a typical regulated market consumer, using the electricity bill simulator of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC), with a contracted power of 4.4 kilowatts and a monthly consumption of 250 kilowatt hours (KWh) distributed in the different periods (peak, flat and valley)the December bill would be around 100 euros.
Specifically, with two days to go before the end of July, the price currently stands at 99.59 euros, although this value could decrease over the weekendwhen electricity demand is lower and the price of electricity in the wholesale market tends to fall.
This figure is 58% higher than that registered in the same month of 2021when it was paid at 62.84 euros, twice as much as in 2020, which stood at 49.51 euros, and 78% more than in 2019, the last year before the coronavirus pandemic, in which it reached 55, 8 euros on average.
However, it is still far from the maximum of this March, the most expensive month in history, which closed with an average bill of more than 120 euros per monthand slightly below the 101.18 euros that were reached last December.
VAT reduction
Despite this, it should be remembered that in those months, the VAT paid by small consumers on the electricity bill was 10%while July has been the first month in which the reduced VAT of 5% approved by the Government has been applied until December 31.
The maximum annual electricity demand recorded in Spain due to high temperaturescausing less renewable production more than gas combined cycles, added to the geopolitical tensions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine are affecting the energy markets in recent weeks.
In fact, the price of electricity in the wholesale or “pool” market, which has a direct impact on the regulated tariff to which almost 11 million consumers are covered, in July it reached its second highest level since records began, with 252.3 euros megawatt hour (MWh)despite the gas cap.
It is only behind the 283.3 euros/MWh of last March, when it reached record levels after the invasion of Ukraine, an amount that if it were not for the gas cap approved by the Government would have been exceeded, reaching 308.9 euros/MWh.
Thanks to this tool that Spain and Portugal have been applying since mid-June, the average price of electricity in the wholesale market during the month of July has been 18% lower which would have been paid if this ceiling had not been available.
Add Comment