Electricity soars 21% this Monday to 208 euros MWh, compared to 59 euros MWh a year ago.

The price of electricity in the wholesale market has rebounded this Monday about 21% to stand at 208.74 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), according to data from the Iberian Electricity Market Operator (OMIE) consulted by Efe. After this rise, the price of electricity almost quadruples the amount it marked during the second Monday of May of the previous year (59.26 euros), and is 2% above the figures of last February 24, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

By time slots, the maximum price for this Monday will be recorded between 21:00 and 22:00, with 250.44 euros/MWh, while the minimum will be 183.94 euros/MWh between 15:00 and 16:00. In the first nine days of May, the price of electricity averages 190.85 euros/MWh, about 32% below the value of March, the most expensive month in history with 283.3 euros/MWh, although it almost doubles the average value of 2021 (111.4 euros/MWh), the highest since records have been kept.

The costs of the wholesale market have a direct impact on the regulated tariff or PVPC to which almost 11 million consumers in Spain are subscribed, and serve as a reference for the other 17 million who contract their supply in the free market.

Special treatment

The Government recently approved a national response plan to the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine, which includes the extension of the tax rebate on the taxes levied on the electricity bill until June 30, and the extension of the electricity social bonus to 1.9 million beneficiary households.

In addition, the European Council has recognized the difficulty of Spain and Portugal to cope with high energy prices, which will allow both countries to benefit from a "special treatment" in their response, which involves setting a maximum price for gas used to generate electricity.

In this sense, the European Commission has agreed to initially set this limit at 40 euros/MWh for the next twelve months, to stabilize at around 50 euros on average throughout the period, thus lowering the cost of electricity for Iberian consumers, a reduction that consumers will notice as of this month.