The price of electricity for domestic customers suffered a 15% increase node first half of 2024compared to the same period last year. This increase is explained by the Energy Services Regulatory Authority with the increase in costs of general economic interest, which includes the guaranteed remuneration to renewable producers.
These costs are paid through the general use rate that is present in the bill of all electricity consumers and which is reviewed by the regulator. Access tariffs were negative in the years of the energy crisis to cushion the impact on final prices of the high cost of energy in energy markets, but they were positive again this year. In July, a period not covered by this analysis, there was a new increase in access rates with an impact on the increase in bills paid by the majority of consumers.
Despite this increase in the electricity bill in the first six months of 2024, ERSE indicates that Portugal continued to have an average electricity price lower than the average of the European Union (EU) and that practiced in Spain. In the bulletin that compares the prices charged in Portugal with those of the European Union, ERSE indicates that Portugal had the twelfth highest price in the EU, which corresponds to the 16th lowest price on the list. number category While Germany appears as the country with the most expensive electricity for homes, Spain appears one position above Portugal. Hungary had the cheapest electricity.
ERSE also says that in the last five years electricity prices in Portugal have been more stable than in other geographies, with average values always below Spain and the EU average.
The price of electricity rises by 2.1% in the regulated market in 2025, but the final bill will go down with the reduced VAT
The comparison of national prices is even more favorable in the non-domestic segment, with Portugal presenting the fifth lowest value in the European Union during the first half of the year and lower than the European average and Spain. This situation occurs despite a 19% increase in electricity prices for companies compared to the first six months of 2023. Once again this evolution is attributed to the increase in general economic interest costs charged to through the electricity usage rate system.
The most relevant component of these costs results from the guaranteed remuneration contracts signed almost 20 years ago for the sale of the energy produced by the wind farms.
Regarding natural gas, national consumers paid average prices in the first half of this year higher than those of Spain and the European Union. Only the companies had prices lower than the European average, but higher than the values practiced in Spain. The natural gas price bulletin also shows that this situation is due to the fact that there has been a very significant drop in the values charged in Spain in the residential segment, of 19%, which in Portugal was 17%.
Source: Observadora
