The "mirage" of January: closes with the lowest electricity bill in 14 years

January 2023 has been the January with the lowest electricity bill in 14 years, according to Facua-Consumers in Action's analysis of the evolution of the semi-regulated tariff (PVPC). The bill for the average user has experienced a year-on-year drop of 49.5% this month.Thus, a user with a contracted power of 4.4 kilowatts (kW) and a consumption of 366 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month will pay a bill of 67.20 euros, compared to 133.06 euros a year ago.Compared to last December's bill, when it stood at 89.82 euros, the monthly drop has been 25.2%.To find a January with a lower bill you have to go back to 2010, when it stood at 61.78 euros. It is also the first time that the average user's bill has been below 70 euros since February 2021.However, January's situation has benefited from high wind power and strong squalls, which have led to higher wind and hydro generation, as well as milder than normal weather for the start of the year. The experts and some managers predict a rise in energy prices for the coming months that will leave in a "mirage" the situation of this January.In addition, the consumer organization has expressed its satisfaction with the proposal submitted by the Government to Brussels to remove the nuclear and hydroelectric auction marginalist. This is, as Facua recalls, one of the demands that the association moved to Teresa Ribera in 2021 and that initially was not accepted by the third vice president.Facua calls on the Government to require the European Commission to put an end to the marginalist auction, a mechanism by which extraordinarily cheap electricity generation technologies end up costing consumers the same as the most expensive ones.Together with the reform proposed by the Government to Brussels, the association considers it essential that a measure as important for protecting the most vulnerable consumers as the social bonus is duly publicized, given that year after year the figures show that the vast majority of potential beneficiaries do not apply for it. And they do not do so, according to Facua, because they are unaware of its existence and characteristics or because they believe they are not entitled to receive it. But if it is essential for consumers to be aware of the social bonus, it is even more important for them to understand the concepts included in the bill, and to this end the association also calls for both regulatory changes and institutional campaigns. Thus, it points out that it is not easy to compare the different offers existing in the market when the bill that citizens currently pay is difficult to understand, something that has worsened since the implementation of the time slots (peak, flat and valley) and even more so with the entry into force of the gas cap.and beyond these issues, the association calls for measures to encourage consumers to optimize the contracted power in their homes. Domestic consumers pay the electricity companies many hundreds of millions of euros too much each year for the excess kilowatts included in their contracts. According to the latest Household Panel of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC), corresponding to the second quarter of 2022, seven out of ten homes have contracted more power than they need.The average user used by Facua in its analysis has a contracted power of 4.4 kW -the same in peak and off-peak hours- and a consumption of 366 kWh per month. It is a profile elaborated after the analysis of several tens of thousands of bills from inhabited homes.