The regulated gas market continues to gain ground and grows by 45% in 4 months

By: News Team

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The regulated gas market continues to gain ground and grows by 45% in 4 months

The number of households covered by the regulated gas tariff has soared by 45% in just four months, although still seven out of ten continue to pay the prices of the free market, clearly more expensive than the regulated one as a result of the energy crisis unleashed with the invasion of Ukraine.

Despite the fact that the free market continues to be the majority among Spanish households, the reference marketers that offer the last resort tariff (TUR) for natural gas have increased their portfolio of regulated customers since the beginning of October to jointly add 2.3 million contracts.

This figure, announced by the third vice-president of the Government and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, highlights the exponential transfer of customers to the regulated market that has occurred in the last four months, with more than 700,000 new contracts.

This massive change to the regulated market comes after the support measures approved by the Government to alleviate the effects of the war, among which is the limitation of the price increase of the regulated gas tariff until the end of the year.

In addition, consumers will not have to pay later the deficit generated to limit the quarterly review of this rate, since it will be subsidized by the Government.

NEARLY 70% REMAIN ON THE FREE MARKET

Despite these more advantageous conditions, about 70% of Spanish households remain in the free market, with offers that involve paying up to twice as much annually compared to the regulated tariff.

According to the latest bulletin of the retail gas market of the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), with data from the third quarter of 2022, the regulated market had just under 31.1 million customers as of September 6, compared to 6.4 million at that time in the free market.

With the latest data provided by Ribera on the regulated tariff, the free market will have closed 2022, predictably, with less than 6 million customers.

DATA BY NEWSPAPERS

The company that has seen its regulated customer base grow the most in recent months has been Naturgy (BME:NTGY), which through its marketer Gas & Power has historically been the most important in this market, with a share that currently exceeds 60% to around 1.4 million.

During the presentation of the results of the last financial year, the Chairman of Naturgy, Francisco Reynés, said that the company has added 315,000 contracts in the regulated market until 31 January.

Of the new contracts, about 230,000 were added throughout 2022 -190,000 in the last part of the year-, while in the month of January there have been 83,000 registrations.

Iberdrola (BME:IBE), which offers the TUR through its marketer Curenergía, currently has a portfolio of 370,000 customers in the regulated market, according to company sources reported to EFE.

Since the end of September, when the company had 111,000 regulated customers, the largest Spanish energy company has added around 260,000 contracts.

Baser, the regulated market marketer of the French group TotalEnergies, currently has 231,000 contracts in the TUR.

Company sources have explained to EFE that 2022 closed with 182,000 contracts, after adding 122,000 new registrations in the whole year and 102,000 since the end of September. Also, so far this year, around 50,000 contracts have been signed on the regulated market.

The other company present in the regulated market, Endesa (BME:ELE) -with its marketer Energía XXI-, has not yet provided the number of customers of the regulated market and will do so coinciding with the presentation of its annual accounts on February 24, although a volume of registrations similar to that of its competitors is expected.

OWNER UNITS

One of the novelties introduced by the Government in the regulated gas market was the creation of a new tariff for neighborhood communities with centralized gas boiler, which until now could not access the TUR when exceeding the maximum consumption allowed.

However, Ribera explained that access to the so-called TUR of Neighborhood Savings is being “very slow”, despite the fact that the marketers have transmitted to the Government that there is a “growing” interest.

Currently, there are less than 5,000 communities of neighbors that have taken advantage of this new rate from which the Executive calculates that up to 1.7 million Spanish households can benefit.

Both Naturgy and TotalEnergies have nearly 1,000 communities of owners in their portfolio each, while neither Iberdrola nor Endesa have specified the number of customers who have joined this new type of TUR.

THE INDEPENDENT ERCIALIZERS LOSE CUSTOMERS

The main victims of this growth of the regulated market are the independent marketers, which cannot compete right now with the TUR – or offer it – and continue to lose customers.

These marketers already asked the Government a few months ago to be allowed to temporarily offer the TUR to compete on equal terms with the reference marketers.

As explained to EFE by the Association of Independent Energy Marketers (ACIE), the Government has not yet responded to its request or taken into account the improvement proposals made by the sector.

This context has caused a “significant” loss of customers in the gas market, to which is added the non-publication by the CNMC of the monitoring reports of the change of marketer, which makes it impossible for them to report the situation to the Government “with official figures”.

Therefore, they claim to “balance” a balance that clearly favors the passage of customers to the TUR, devising some system so that marketers can offer this rate and access a cost compensation system as the four regulated marketers do.

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