Rain and wind in recent weeks have caused electricity prices on the wholesale market to fall to values ​​below 10 euros per megawatt hour. It is the fruit of renewable production sufficient to meet the entire national demand for several days. But 2024 may bring an unpleasant surprise for about 5.5 million free market consumers. For these customers, the bill may record higher than those announced for regulated tariff increases next year.

This is because the proposal submitted by the Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE), which sets out to update the regulated tariff for residential end customers by 1.9% from January onwards, also indicates a Very significant increase in network access fees Paid by all consumers. In addition to compensation for electrical infrastructure, this part of the electricity bill includes the costs of energy policy decisions, through the general tariff for using the system.

ERSE proposes an increase of €48 per megawatt (MWh) in the access tariff paid by low-voltage customers, which is currently marginally negative. Dividing this rise by kWh would give a rise of 5 cents, which would become 6 cents With value added tax. Using an average bill as a model with a contracted capacity of 3.45 kVA and a monthly consumption of 150 kWh, We can look forward to a jump of €7.5 per month. In this scenario, the average bill, which was around €30 per month, would jump to around €40. The calculations were made by Pedro Silva, market analyst at Deco Propste, who at the same time points out that this effect can be compensated for by other variables.

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