This Tuesday, the new electricity bill comes into force, a new system with which the home user will pay more or less at the end of the month depending on the time they use their appliances. But it will only be the starting point for a series of changes that threaten to give a twist to the complex of electricity to give impetus to a technology that aims to be the center of the energy transition and currently depends on a jumble of issues. ranging from meteorology to the accumulated deficit of the electricity system until 2013.
Specifically, what a household consumer pays at the end of the month on their bill corresponds to approximately 33% of the price of electricity in the wholesale market; 47% in regulated costs and 20% in taxes. In turn, the regulated costs, which affect both the energy and power terms, are divided into tolls (cost of the transmission and distribution network which accounts for about 21% of the receipt) and charges (to cover cost of the extrapeninsular production, the renewable premiums and the deficit of the tariff that supposes 27%).
From tomorrow, the total amount of these tolls and charges does not vary, but the price (regulated by the CNMC and the Government, respectively) is granted, which will be different depending on the time of day, both in terms of energy as well as power, to give a “price signal” to the consumer and thus help him to adapt his consumption when he realizes that his pocket will depend on it.
In practice, this translates into the fact that from this month of June all users will have hourly discrimination in three tranches, that is, it will be more expensive for them to consume electricity in the period that corresponds to the schedule ‘tip ‘and cheaper in the’ valley ‘, while it will be intermediate in the’ plain ‘. So much so that ironing on the weekend instead of at 10 in the morning on weekdays can mean a ‘discount’ of 38 euros on the annual receipt of a consumer, according to the CNMC.
In addition, they will also be able to hire two different powers in their homes, one for the ‘peak’ periods and another for the ‘valley’, so that those consumers who want a higher power, for example, to charge the vehicle electric, they will be able to hire a higher power at night and maintain their usual power the rest of the day, so they will not have to pay the extra cost that would be a high power all day. A way to encourage the use of the car and the electric motorcycle.
The aim is not to make the bill cheaper but to shift the consumption of the periods of greatest demand (during the day to weekdays) to those of less (at night and on weekends) to avoid straining the electricity network in the face of this electrification of the economy and, at the same time, accelerate the entry of new agents such as the electric car or self-consumption, according to the CNMC and the Government.
Although with this change there will be winners and losers, then, a priori, the best positioned are consumers subject to the rate of Voluntary Small Consumer Price (PVPC) without hourly discrimination who will see their bill reduced without doing anything; while those with hourly discrimination will notice some increase, if they do not change their consumption, according to the regulator.
More changes
But this is not the only change. The government plans to pass a draft bill at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting to reduce some of the ‘sky-high profits’ of nuclear and hydraulics in the midst of escalating electricity prices in the wholesale market (known as’ pool ‘) by lowering their carbon dividends, ie the return on these technologies when the price of CO2 emission rights is very high and the combined cycles are the last to marry supply and demand.
The price of the ‘pool’ was on average this month at 65 euros per megawatt-hour, above the 60 euros in January of Filomena, although now instead of the cold and gas is mainly due to the rise in CO2 emission rights prices that have skyrocketed by speculation.
Although it is anticipated a slow entry into force, such as that of the National Fund for the Sustainability of the Electricity System (FNSSE), called ‘green fund’, which plans to remove some of the charges from the bill. Specifically, the 7 billion euros corresponding to premiums for renewables, which the Government wants to transfer progressively within five years of receipt to energy companies (electricity, gas and oil).
This measure would save 13% on the bill at the end of the period, according to the Executive, and would make electricity more popular with other technologies such as fossil fuels that could see their cost increase with this and other measures, such as famous imposed on diesel. At the moment, it is under analysis by the Council of State, while the gas industry is pushing to change it.