Electricity at knockdown prices this morning: the electricity market, at a year-and-a-half low on Christmas Eve | Economy

Christmas Eve with light at knockdown prices for families with a regulated rate. The average price of electricity in the Spanish wholesale market will drop this Friday to 21.12 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), according to provisional data from the Iberian Electricity Market Operator (OMIE) and already applied the adjustment for the Iberian exception , which will be negative. It is its lowest level since early May of last year, when the energy crisis was just a distant rumor.

The wind —which will activate a large part of the wind turbines installed on the Peninsula— and the increase in dammed water —which has allowed a certain reactivation of hydraulics—, together with the lower expected demand, will leave a price 18 times lower than just a year ago, when it exceeded 383 euros per MWh. Although much smaller, the decrease is also substantial in daily comparison: this Friday less than half of the previous day will be paid, despite the fact that it already started from a very low level.

The relief will be especially substantial during the early morning, when wind energy production rises strongly and demand falls: between one and seven in the morning, the wholesale price will be just under four euros per MWh. On the opposite side, the highest daily values ​​will be recorded late in the afternoon and early at night: between six and ten o’clock they will exceed 60 euros, a value, despite everything, very low compared to the usual trend of the last months.

The wholesale market is the one that applies to consumers who receive a regulated market rate (also known under the acronym PVPC), who are also the ones that have suffered the most from the blow of prices in recent times of the energy crisis. The rest, those that are in the free market with a completely independent contract from the daily auctions. December is on track to be the first month since the start of the energy crisis in which customers with a regulated contract pay less than those with the best available rate on the free market.