Spanish Electricity Prices Highest In Europe

July 21, 2021 Spain spain news in english

The recent government decision to modify the electricity tariff structure has left Spanish consumers with the highest prices in Europe and which are likely to stay until at least next year.

The price of electricity has skyrocketed since the changeover in June with each day seeing new records being reached for tariffs charged.

The cost today, Wednesday 21sy July, reached a new peak as consumers were left with the highest charges ever seen in Spain and higher than other European Union countries when it surpassed 106 Euros per megawatt-hour (MWh).

Industry experts forecast that prices will continue to rise further in the coming months, and will remain at the level of 90 euros until February next year, when they will begin to lower, although probably “very slowly”.

“We are in a really unusual situation that we have never seen in the wholesale market since it was created in 1998 or anything like it,” said industrial engineer and director of Próxima Energía, Jorge Morales, making reference to the average electricity price this Wednesday in the wholesale market: 106.57 euros / MWh, a figure that rises above the 103.76 euros / MWh of January 11, 2002, the maximum ever recorded in Spain.

The Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, pointed out that the Government is aware that “we are going to handle high price ranges” of electricity because raw materials in international markets are expected to remain high in the medium term.

Ribera criticised the opposition, for leaving “behind millions of families in the heat of a heat wave”.

The average household bill rose by almost 35% in this first fortnight of July 2021 compared to the same month last year.

If prices continue on the current path, the receipt of the regulated tariff (PVPC) would stand at 84.35 euros, an amount even higher than in June, when it was 81.27 euros, according to consumer champion FACUA.

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