The average price of electricity for regulated rate customers linked to the wholesale market will plummet this Wednesday, November 1 and All Saints’ Day, by 95.68% compared to Tuesday, to 4.53 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), thus marking its lowest level so far this year.
By time slots, the maximum price, of 16.75 euros/MWh, will be recorded in the first hour of the day, while the minimum, of 0.01 euros/MWh, will occur over a total of five hours – between 12:00 and 17:00 -, according to provisional data from the Iberian Energy Market Operator (OMIE) collected by Europa Press.
In this way, the ‘pool’ will register its lowest level for a day so far in 2023. It would be necessary to go back to the last day of 2022, when it marked 2.65 euros/MWh, to find a lower market price electric.
The large presence of renewable generation, especially wind, due to the effect of the Ciarán storm in Spanish territory, which brings strong winds and rain, together with the lower demand due to the All Saints’ holiday, will lead the ‘pool’ to register these low prices.
In fact, the storms suffered in the final stretch of October have led to the upward trend in electricity prices of recent months being halted in the month. Thus, the average of the electricity market for the month closed at 90.14 euros/MWh, almost 13% lower than the 103.34 euros/MWh in September.
Compensation to the gas companies would be added to the average price of the ‘pool’, which has to be paid by the consumers who are beneficiaries of the measure, the consumers of the regulated tariff (PVPC) or those who, despite being in the free market, They have an indexed rate, but it is once again at 0 euros/MWh, a situation that has been repeated since February 27.
The so-called ‘Iberian exception’ was extended until December 31, following the agreement reached by Spain and Portugal with the European Commission. Thus, it was extended for seven months, until the end of this year, and it was not excluded that it could be extended for longer if said framework was also increased.
Specifically, the agreement not only represented an extension of the Iberian exception that was already applied, but also implied some adjustments to accommodate it, such as the price reference, which until then had increased by five euros per month, and became softer. .
In the original agreement, the aforementioned reference price for gas had an average value of 48.8 euros/MWh: it was 40 euros/MWh for six months, rising 5 euros/MWh each month thereafter. It has increased by 1.1 euros/MWh since last April, ending at 65 euros/MWh.
Currently, the mechanism has not had any effect on the marginal matching processes in the wholesale markets since the end of February due to the drop in the price of natural gas below the thresholds set for its application, but, if necessary, the extension will allow maintaining a reasonable price, not so dependent on the evolution of natural gas.
