Voluntary price for small consumers

In the following graph, it can be seen how the voluntary price for small consumers (VPSC), known as PVPC in Spain, is conditioned by the day-ahead market. For this reason, the highest VPSC price was registered in December, while the lowest was registered in February.

The price of surplus energy from self-consumption is paid at a price very similar to the day-ahead market price.

Evolution of the VPSC (General tariff 2.0TD (before 2.0A)), Day-ahead market and surplus energy from self-consumption

On 1 June, the tariffs were modified, reducing their number and modifying the tolls and charges (which had remained unchanged since 2014). From that moment on, practically all domestic consumers are now covered by the 2.0 TD access tariff, which now includes hourly discrimination broken down into three periods each day for energy (peak, standard and off-peak) and two for the contracted power (peak and off-peak).

The new tolls and charges make the VPSC on weekdays much more expensive during peak hours. Thus, depending on the distribution of the percentage of consumption in the different periods, the cost of the access toll concept is affected and, therefore, this affects the total cost of the electricity bill.

The high day-ahead market prices, which as has already seen have an impact on the regulated electricity bill, led to exceptional measures being taken to reduce the cost. Thus, in June, VAT was reduced (from 21 % to 10 %) if the contracted power does not exceed 10 kW and if the wholesale market price exceeds 45 €/MWh. As of 16 September, charges were reduced by 96 % and the electricity tax was reduced from 5.11 % to 0.5 %.

The graph shows how the one-off measures affected the cost of the electricity bill. With the first VAT reduction measure, a 9 % reduction in the bill was achieved, while all the measures together reduced the bill by 23 %.

In order to calculate the cost of the regulated tariff, if a comparison were made with the old 2.0A tariff, considering a contracted power of 4.6 kW and a consumption of 3,900 kWh/year, with the consumption scenario published on the CNMC website, which is weighted as follows: 45 % off-peak hours, 26 % standard hours and 29 % peak hours. The cost of a typical electricity bill for 2021 as a whole would be €1,023, a value that is 43 % higher than what would have been paid for the same consumption in 2020, i.e., almost €308 more per year. This would be the highest electricity bill ever (even though the calculation takes into account the tax reduction measures put in place by the Government).

Of the 1,023 euros that this typical customer would have paid for their electricity consumption in 2021, 561 euros would correspond to the purchase of energy in the market (55 % of the bill), 311 euros (30 %) would correspond to the regulated part of tolls and system charges and the remaining €151 would correspond to taxes (15 %). Thus, although the cost of energy purchased on the electricity market would have increased by 178.7 % compared to 2020, the total bill would only have increased by 43 %.

The high prices of electricity experienced during 2021 meant that the final cost of energy had an ever-increasing impact on the cost of the electricity bill.

Cost in the electricity bill