State aid to lower the bill natural gas Millions of homes broke the market. The manager is injecting subsidies that reduce customers’ receipt at regulated rates gas and in recent months they have caused a historic commercial upheaval with hundreds of thousands of customers wanting to change their contracts.
Large energy companies forced to offer different regulated tariffs (tariffs of last resort, called TUR)they are dealing with a real avalanche of demand to jump into regulated business After years when those using free market rates – at a price freely determined by companies – have grown, the customer base of these rates has dwindled, the price has been set by the Government and is currently offering huge discounts.
In the heat of government aid, the four major energy groups offering regulated rates (Naturgy, Endesa, Iberdrola and TotalenergiesAccording to internal data from companies El Periódico de España from the Prensa Ibérica group has access to, it has added about 860,000 new customers to its regulated tariff marketers in just six months since last September. According to the records of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), it was already around 2.44 million in February, out of 1.58 million TOUR customers last September.
Big companies are confident that with the end of winter and heating off in homes as low temperatures end, the avalanche of contract changes will reduce and slow the intensity of transfers. But from the gas industry The number of one million customers fleeing the regulated market will be reached in the coming months. with the shock of state aid.
company to company
Naturgy, the main operator of the Spanish gas market, adds 327,000 customers to the latest portfolio of marketers to apply since last summer. The company, led by Francisco Reynés, confirmed 190,000 users at the regulated gas rate in the second half of 2022, and 137,000 more between January and February of this year alone. In order to calibrate the size of the transfer from the group, it was underlined that in the two months we are in 2023, he only registered as many TURs as he had accumulated in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Endesa has accumulated 130,000 new regulated paid customers since last August (with more than 81,000 users last year and 48,600 additional changes so far this year). Iberdrola confirms it has added 259,000 regulated paid customers It is a figure that will only grow when the user transfer in February is added to the gas between the end of September and last January.
total energies is also seeing a very strong increase in customers of the regulated tariff marketer. 174,000 new households benefiting from TUR Since last summer. There were 122,000 people during last year, the vast majority—about 100,000 since September—and 74,000 in the first two months of this year alone.
70% still on the free market
Despite the massive transfer, the number of customers buying free market gas rates is still much higher, even though it is more expensive and has seen strong increases in recent months. Right now, More than 2.4 million households have tariff regulations contracted gas (50% more than last summer), compared to closing 5.7 million users remaining in the free market.
This, only 30% of all users have a rate protected against strong spikes. Free market rates are freely set and periodically reviewed by companies, while regulated business rates are set quarterly by the Government based on the evolution of international hydrocarbon prices, but increases have a maximum cap from last year.
The government activated a million-dollar package of measures last October to lower the price of regulated gas tariffs; For homes with central heating in the 3,000-euro crisis-shield neighborhood community (currently to which approximately 5,000 neighborhood communities will participate) through 2023, which envisages continuing to limit by law applicable increases to the gas tariff already regulated for more than 2 million customers, as well as the creation of a new type of discounted rate.