Average price electric It was like that again in Spain last year Second consecutive lowest level among major euro economies. With annual average 87.43 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) on the wholesale marketSpain price was: 58.3% cheaper than 2022 and 14.13% lower than the average of current rates It reached 101.82 euros in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Compared to the market average of 87.3 euros per megawatt in Spain, in Germany the figure was 95.6; 97.3 euros in France and 128.9 euros in Italy.
Energy aggregator Grupo ASE noted this good performance in the electricity price in Spain in its monthly report at the end of December. increased contribution renewable generationIts contribution increased by 15.7% during the year, and for the first time, it enabled more than half (specifically 52.6%) of the annual electricity produced in the country to be produced by clean energy sources.
The so-called ‘Iberian exception’ (Mechanism that limits the price of natural gas as long as it is used as a reference for pricing other technologies that do not consume this hydrocarbon) Unlike what happened in 2022, it did not contribute to falling prices in 2023When reducing the price of electricity in the wholesale market becomes the determining factor – because the decrease in the price of electricity gas It prevented the implementation of the Iberian formula in the international market. It will not do this starting from this year, because Spain and Portugal have been given the authority by the European Union to apply this intervention mechanism to the price formation system in force in the EU, which is regulated with marginalist criteria and includes all countries, as of the last day. energy sources are rewarded with the most expensive.
Association of Companies with Large Energy Consumption (AEGE), electro-intensive companies also stands out in the latest barometer Good development of electricity price in the daily market and future prices for this year are offered positively, but emphasizes that although electricity prices are low in Spain, there are companies with such high energy consumption They pay more than their French and German rivals because they get the energy through “more competitive contracts”. higher than the current prices in their own country’s electricity markets.
According to AEGE, “Although electricity prices in the German and French markets were higher than in our market” in the last twelve months, “For Spain’s electro-intensive industry –taking into account the measures approved in the regulation and gas adjustment compensation– In Spain, the price at the end of “last” year was estimated at 93.14 euros per megawatt; this is more than twice the French price.According to this cooperation, the real cost of electro-intensive industry in the German case was 66.83 euros.
Electricity futures markets with data as of December 31 point to the advantage of the daily price in the Spanish wholesale market Compared to wholesale prices of other major economies of the Union, it will continue in 2024 It is stated that the price decline will continue in Spain, the average price will be lower than in 2023, and this will represent the third consecutive year of decline. However, Grupo ASE warns that the price of CO2 emissions rights, which have fallen for most of 2023, will rise again in the second half of December with a “drastic increase”, which will make primary resources such as electricity more expensive. the price of the rest and coal.