MADRID – 2022 will go down in history as the year in which electricity prices never reached previous heights. Coincidentally, it ends on Saturday with the lowest price of the past two years and thirteen hours of free electricity on the wholesale market.
This is due to higher-than-normal temperatures and the contribution of renewable energy sources. The average price drops to €1.87, but with the application of the adjustment to gas, the price on the wholesale market will not reach zero for a large part of the day.
The price of electricity on the wholesale market has been falling for days and that trend will continue tomorrow. According to data from the Iberian Market Operator, the cost per megawatt hour on the wholesale market will fall to €1.87 tomorrow. It’s the lowest price all year. You would have to go back to January 31, 2021, to find a lower figure.
An explanation must be sought for the greater contribution of renewable energy sources and lower consumption due to less cold temperatures. Renewables set the price of electricity for all but three hours of the day on Saturday.
Free electricity
Between 2.00 am and 9.00 am, the price (with the application of the provisional calculation of the gas adjustment) was below 0 euros. And that was repeated between 11.00 am and 2.00 pm and at midnight. On the other hand, at 7.00 pm we find the highest price of the day with the megawatt costing just under €19. A year ago the price was over €300 per MWh.
