With the temporary suspension of energy imports to Spain, the price of electricity in Portugal quadped compared to our neighbors.
A week after the largest blackout in the Iberian Peninsula in decades, the concrete causes of the incident that left Portugal and Spain on the dark on April 28 continue to clarify.
Since then, Portugal has been suspended for imports of Spain electricity, a measure that is expected to extend at least this Tuesday. This limitation is generate strong economic impactssince Portuguese consumers cannot benefit from low prices currently practiced in the Spanish market.
According to data from the Omie platform, this Monday, the average price of electricity in Spain will be at 10.89 euros by Megawatt Hora (MWH), while in Portugal the average value ascends to 43.94 euros by MWh – More than quadruple. The difference of over 33 euros by MWh represents one of the largest disparities ever between the two countries since the creation of the Iberian Electricity Market (Mibel) in 2007, points out the.
The reason for this disparity is the so-called market splittingphenomenon that occurs when interconnections between the two markets reach their limit and fail to allow trade. THE absence of wind in Portugal Last Monday it aggravates the situation, dramatically reducing wind production and forcing greater dependence on more expensive sources such as natural gas and hydroelectricity.
The estimate of the overcustom for Portuguese consumers only on Monday is 4.2 million euros, considering the price differential and the volume of electricity transated (128 GWh). If the scenario prolongs, an average family may Pay up to 6.6 euros per month (Before tax), only due to increased gross prices.
However, both the governments of Portugal and Spain and the European authorities (Entsoe and Acer) announced investigations to investigate the exact causes of blackout and evaluate the operators’ performance in system recovery. With the network stabilization, electrical interconnections between the two countries are expected to be resumed in the coming days.
