Spain’s electricity market, once dominated by five giants Iberdrola, Endesa, Naturgy, Repsol, and TotalEnergies, has seen a quiet shift. Smaller, independent marketers like Fenie Energía, Audax, and Factor Energía used to attract a share of customers away from the big players. The war in Ukraine and soaring energy costs changed the direction of that flow. Independent suppliers lost ground as households and businesses reconsidered their options, and more customers began returning to the large, established electric companies.
By the end of 2021, the smallest firms held about 3.7 million customers. A year later, that figure stood at roughly 3 million, according to provisional data from the National Markets and Competition Commission. The trend among larger suppliers moved in the opposite direction, with big groups adding around 900,000 customers in 2022, reaching a total of about 27 million. The overall number of electricity customers surpassed 30 million for the first time. These shifts show how market dynamics can swing on policy changes, price controls, and the balance between regulated and liberalized markets.
Among the smaller marketers, Fenie Energía remained the largest with around 381,265 customers. The portfolio saw a drop of nearly 61,368 clients, a decline of about 13.9 percent from the end of 2021. Analysts noted that measures aimed at stabilizing bills and curbing the impact of rising gas prices had the most pronounced effects on gas-heavy portfolios. The policy environment also included a requirement to auction a portion of facility output to smaller traders to foster competition and lower prices for consumers.
Over time, however, the policy framework evolved. A cap of 67 euros per megawatt-hour was introduced to curb steep price spikes, prompting large, vertically integrated groups to sign contracts at that price. Independent marketers argued that this created a disadvantage when they had to purchase energy on higher daily market prices, while the integrated groups could present 67 euro deals to customers through bundled generation and marketing subsidiaries. This created a competitive imbalance for smaller players, as they faced market prices well above the capped rate during daily procurement. The shift represented a significant factor in how customers perceived value and reliability across the market.
As the market stabilized and prices moderated, companies began returning to a more typical pace. Market observers noted a sense of equilibrium month to month, with the gap between price levels tightening. Traders saw movement slow compared to the previous year, reflecting less churn. In a broader view, the year still featured substantial changes in customer allocation, with a notable increase in movements compared to the prior year and earlier periods, signaling ongoing reevaluation of cost and service quality by households and businesses alike.
In the bigger firms segment, one player made notable gains by expanding its customer base, achieving a rise of about 300,000 customers to reach roughly 1.3 million in total. This growth allowed the company to overtake a rival and become the fourth-largest marketer, while the leader in the market continued to show a strong and persistent presence. Iberdrola consistently held the top spot as the largest electricity customer base in Spain across consecutive years, with about 10.4 million customers at the end of 2022. Endesa followed closely, increasing its count to nearly 10 million after a solid gain of more than 140,000 customers, and Naturgy added over 200,000 customers to reach around 4.3 million. The five main players together continued to account for a dominant majority of the market share, underscoring the concentration in the sector and the importance of scale and network access for providers and consumers alike.
gas market
In the gas segment, the majors emerged as the year’s central actors. The transition from free to regulated markets accelerated, with a dramatic increase in the number of consumers on regulated gas prices during the fourth quarter compared with the first quarter of the year. In October, authorities announced an uptick in the regulated tariff, boosting the TUR rate and pulling more customers toward the regulated option. The regulator reported growth from about 1.5 million to around 2.1 million gas customers under the regulated rate.
Naturgy, the leading gas marketer with about 3.6 million customers, held roughly steady overall. It shed a portion in the free market but gained an equivalent amount in the regulated segment, keeping total customer numbers relatively stable. Endesa also expanded its base, adding around 80,000 customers and nearing 1.6 million on the regulated plan. Iberdrola added roughly 70,000 customers in the regulated category, reaching about 1.2 million. Meanwhile, smaller providers faced notable churn, with roughly 35 percent of their clients, around 153,185 people, shifting away and bringing their total to about 293,988 customers on the regulated side. These shifts illustrate how regulation and price controls shaped the gas market and which players benefited from the mix of tariffs and supply arrangements.