ELECTRICITY bills have plummeted in Spain – just in time for a forecast drop in temperatures across the country after the weekend.
Consumer organisation OCU says households have paid around 21.3% less for their energy in February than they did in January – a typical home with an annual consumption of 3.5 kilowatts per hour (kWh) would have seen their monthly costs drop from an average of €69.88 to €55.13.
And it's not a blip, or a temporary respite, it seems: According to the OCU, the price reduction is because the actual cost of fuel has 'returned to normal' after a spike at the beginning of the year when the mercury dropped to some of the lowest levels on record nationwide.
February's energy prices have fluctuated considerably, rising on weekdays and dropping dramatically at weekends, but averaging at around €29 per megawatt per hour (mWh) – about 50% less than those of January, and somewhat lower than in February 2020.
The reduction, however, only applies to homes on the so-called 'regulated tariff', or 'voluntary small consumers' price' (PVPC), which approximately four in 10 households are signed up to.
These are customers whose supply comes direct from electricity board Iberdrola, whilst the rest are signed up to what is known as the 'free market', with the amount of their bills depending upon the type of contract they have with their provider, which may be Iberdrola or one of the other utility companies in operation.
The OCU has denounced 'alarmist messages' throughout January about how electricity had soared in price and was set to remain as such for the foreseeable future, and which some providers on the market had been taking advantage of to convince consumers to contract a fixed rate – which, in some cases, was even higher than January's prices.
