The electricity traded on the Iberian Wholesale Market for delivery tomorrow reached the highest price this Monday since the mechanism that sets the cost of natural gas used to produce electricity came into force.
The daily market price of Mibel closed at 365.33 per MW/hour, after the escalation that affected other European countries, in reaction to Gazprom’s announcement that the supply through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline would stop in the coming days for “maintenance”. But this is the price already with the effect of the Iberian ceiling that has been in force since June 15 and that is still the highest value since March of this year, which represents a jump of 35% compared to the previous day.
The final price of the Iberian market already includes the compensation due to the natural gas plants for not passing on the cost of natural gas in the electricity they put on the market, thus preventing the increase in gas from being extended to the price of all the energy sold in the same period. .
The wholesale market is where marketers supply energy to sell to customers and in the case of Spain there is a significant number of domestic customers whose rate is indexed to Mibel’s daily prices. In Portugal, it is mainly companies that are exposed. These customers are the main beneficiaries of the Iberian mechanism that disconnects the price of electricity from natural gas, but they have to pay the cost. The cost of this adjustment also reached the highest value since the entry into force of the Iberian ceiling, which corresponds to 182.40 euros per MW/hour, a price that is practically the same as that of electricity already with the effect of the mechanism, 182 .93 euros per MW/hour.
Even so, the mechanism allowed an average daily saving of 111.44 euros, 23.3% less, compared to the price that would result in normal market operating conditions. According to the still provisional data from the General Directorate of Energy and Geology, the Iberian market price would be 476.77 euros per MW/hour, without the Iberian ceiling effect.
Electricity prices are undergoing a new wave of sharp rises driven by natural gas. In Germany they exceeded 500 euros per MW/hour, as in France, which, however, has bought all the cheapest electricity it could on the Iberian Peninsula. According to the Spanish press, Iberdrola is asking its customers in France not to renew their supply contract, whose prices will skyrocket, and opt instead to return to the regulated tariff.
Source: Observadora
