Spain ranks among the countries with the more expensive electricity price of Europe, according to the latest data published by Eurostat. Thus, in 2021 the price of electricity for Spanish households with a consumption between 2,500 and 5,000 kilowatt-hours was 25.69 cents per kilowatt-hour, the fifth most expensive of the continent, behind Germany, Denmark, Belgium and Ireland, and ahead of the 22.86 cents on average of the 27 countries that make up the European Union. But, in addition, with equal purchasing power (Purchasing Power Standard), Spain rose to third position, behind Romania and Germany.
Eurostat collects the information from the marketers on the prices passed on to their clients and in it the rates of the regulated market (Voluntary Price for Small Consumers), which depends on the wholesale price of electricity, in which there are around 9 million consumers; but also those of free market, in which there are more than 11 million homes, so it is the best tool to observe the average price of electricity consumers. The figures include the basic price of electricity, transmission and distribution costs, meter rental and other services.
The electricity price began to increase in Spain at the beginning of last summer, coinciding with the increase in natural gas prices throughout Europe, although it was from September when it shot up. Thus, according to the statistical thermometer of the European Union, the price of electricity with taxes in Spain went from costing an average of 23.23 cents in the first semester to 28.16 cents in the second, 22% more than a year before .
The average of the countries of the European Union was 22.23 cents in the first quarter and 23.69 cents in the second. In other words, the difference in prices in Spain with respect to the average for its environment increased from 5% in the first few months to 20% at the end of the period.
The Government lowered the taxes on the electricity bill from July 1 (from 21% to 10% VAT and from 5.11% to 0.5% of the Special Tax on Electricity and, in addition, temporarily suspended the tax of 7% to electricity generation that taxes companies) to try to contain the rise in consumer bills and added in September a reduction in charges (one of the two fixed components of the receipt) of 97% with the objective to fulfill the promise of the President of the Government that the 2021 bill is “similar” to that of 2018 once the increase in the inflation since then.
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According to data from the European organization, smaller consumers (between 1,000 and 2,500 kilowatt-hours of energy consumed per year) paid 30.78 cents per kilowatt-hour, 3.06% more than in 2018; the medium (with a consumption between 2,500 and 5,000 kilowatt-hours) paid 25.69 cents per kilowatt-hour, 5.47% more than in 2018, while households that consume the most (more than 10,000 kilowatt-hours of annual consumption), with a cost of 16.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, had a lower electricity price than two years ago.
The price difference in all three cases is lower than inflation that between the months of December 2018 and December 2021 was 6.8%, according to the INE. And in the case of consumers with between 5,000 and 10,000 kilowatts of power, the price is almost the same: 21.86 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2018 and 21.80 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2021 with the rise in inflation since 2018 incorporated.