The electricity bill rose almost twice in Spain than in the European Union in the last year

The price of the electricity bill in August increased 70.72 points compared to the previous year in Spain, according to data from the Harmonized CPI (HICP, for its acronym in English) from Eurostat.

This is

(in France it rose 9 points, 7%, and in Germany, 29.5, 16%), although it is far from the rise in countries like Italy.

This increase of nearly 60% this year also reflects a more expensive bill than the average of the 27 harmonized CPI, which stood at 157.57 points in August compared to the 2015 index. A year ago the difference with Spain was of 0.62 and then packages of measures such as the reduction of VAT or the cap on gas had not yet been implemented.

In any case, despite the tools used by the Government to reduce what citizens pay for electricity, the large number of PVPC regulated rate contracts (around a third of the total, around 10 million households) it makes the country very much

.

The Executive has tried to mitigate the impact of the price of the megawatt hour in the wholesale market on the bills that benefit from the variable price bill, which is more volatile during the energy crisis.

Meanwhile, France or Germany have more fixed contracts, which are calculated in the medium or long term and, therefore, are not as exposed to days or months of skyrocketing prices, although they have also increased in the last year.

In fact, this irregularity is also reflected in the information published by Eurostat.

Thus, while in Spain an

can be seen between the month with the highest rise (March) and the lowest (August 2021) of this period, in France, for example, there are only 9.21 points of difference.

Of course, in the Gallic country the rise has been practically constant -with the exception of two specific drops-, while the Spanish market has experienced considerable increases and decreases in the bill.

It should be remembered that this summer has been especially complex for the Spanish electricity generation system, which has depended much more than normal on a gas with a skyrocketing price to feed its needs.

The heat wave that affected wind and, paradoxically, photovoltaic production also stressed the system with a greater demand for cooling.

In addition, Spain greatly increased its export of electricity to France while reducing imports, precisely because electricity is cheaper in Spain, despite the higher rise in the bill.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• France

• Germany

• European Union

• Italy

• electricity bill