Electricity consumers, both domestic and business, will have to get used to very changing electricity prices. Times where it is cheap, and others when the receipt will be expensive. Now we are at that moment. In the first 16 days of December, the average wholesale market price was 117 euros per megawatt. The worst month of the year.
It is important to clarify that the wholesale market price does not impact all users. The increases and decreases are only directly affected by consumers who are in the regulated market (PVPC). At the beginning of the year there were more than eight million in this modality. It is also worth remembering that after the last reform of the electricity market, this bill contains an indexation component with the futures market, which usually balances the final cost. However, and despite everything, these fluctuations end up being noticeable in the electricity bill.
For now, December has reached peaks of €146/MWh on some days. A situation that is explained by multiple factors. As for demand, this month the cold has fully set in at times, and that has activated those who have electrical equipment for heat processes, who will be the ones who will receive the biggest hit on the bill since it is high consumption items.
This situation of greater consumption generates, in itself, prices to rise due to the effect of the market between supply and demand. Something normal in a liberalized system. Therefore, the more it is consumed, if negative factors occur on the supply side, the price will rise.
Concern in the market
On the supply side, that is, those who produce and sell, gas prices in the market TTF They are abnormally high. It is at values above €40/MWh, and these are the ones that directly influence when there are no renewables in the mix. In this sense, renewables, or rather, their limited presence, is what is impacting the market in recent months.
According to various analysts, it is expected that this technology will re-enter the system in the coming days, although it was also planned for the last few weeks, and in the end it has not happened.
To all this contingency is added that the nuclear It is serving less energy than it can deliver. This means that, at certain times, it has to be the gas that occupies that thermal gap. Especially when hydraulics are not available.
In general, It is expected that in the coming days there will be a price truce due to the lower industrial activity expected during the holidays. In addition, temperatures are also expected to soften between now and the end of the year, causing less use of thermal systems.
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