One in six households changed their electricity company in 2021

That’s how it departs from data released this Thursday by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC).the majority (91.4%) of these five million households went to the free market, either because there are exchanges between marketers in that market (in 66.6% of cases) or movements from the regulated market (24.8%). The major difference between both markets is that the latter (the PVPC ratio) is indexed to the wholesale electricity market, so their consumers instantly notice any fluctuations in prices, but they add other products that provide more stability. As described in another report by the CNMC.

In 2021, the regulated market was the one most affected by the crisis. high wholesale market prices. In fact, according to various estimates, it is calculated that they pay 20% more than in 2018. But that was about to change as the executive limited the price of gas used to generate electricity. This explains the transfer of customers who decide to switch to the free contract (1.2 million in 2021 compared to 574,708 in 2020). And what makes it all the more surprising is that 428,061 customers moved from the regulated market to the free market, and the other 7,248 simply switched companies yet maintained a PVPC ratio.

In total, according to figures from the regulator headed by Cani Fernández at the end of 2021 there were 19.8 million consumers in the free market (65% of the total) and 10.7 million edits (35%).

By regions, Andalusia and Murcia were the communities with the highest retail turnover in Spain with 19.6% and 19.3% respectively. In the case of Catalonia, 17.5% of consumers moved from one company to another. In total, 785,299 users, 70% of cases were switching marketers in the free market, while 22% were people switching from regulated to free market. About 59,840 people moved from the regulated market to the free market, and 1,259 people moved in the regulated market, but went to another company. The Basque Country (13%) and the Canary Islands (14.4%) were the regions that differed least among their consumers.

Natural gas

CNMC also analyzes: users natural gas a total of about 8 million. In this case, one in eight consumers decided to switch companies 30% more in 2021 than a year ago. Also here, most of the changes, 93.2%, were for free market traders; both from customers who already have this option and choose another free marketer (82.6%) and from customers at a regulated rate (Final Facility Price or TUR) who choose the free market (10.6%). On the contrary, 6.6% (68,342) of customers preferred to switch from the free market to the regulated market (TUR rate).

In case of gas, 6.5 million consumers have a free fee and the remaining 1.5 million have a regulated fee(KIND). The latter has been practically frozen for months. In September, the Government approved a limit for the first time during the review, determining that the increase in the cost of raw materials cannot exceed 35% in the review corresponding to 1 October 2021 and 1 January 2022. and 15% respectively. This formula was extended last month as part of the shock plan to reduce the impact of the war in Ukraine on consumers. The manager has fixed that yes, the deficit owed to last resort marketers will be recouped in successive reviews, but how is yet to be regulated.

for autonomy, The Balearic Islands and Andalusia rank first in terms of changes, with 15.9% and 15.2% of their total users., respectively; again, Asturias and Basque Country are the regions with less movement (9.3%). In Catalonia, the marketer’s rate of change over the total number of gas supply points was 13.3%, affecting a total of 292,041 consumers, the majority of which were exchanges in the free market (230,353) from the regulated to the free market (42,392). , from freely regulated (18,655) to free market (641).