How will the new 2021 electricity tariffs affect you with potencia greater than 15 kW?

Please don’t worry.

We cannot stress this enough. Yes, there are changes coming to how energy is priced across all of Spain. But, no, you do not need to panic. We are not raising our prices and you will not be penalised – the modifications are based on governmental regulations. That said, as a result of these changes it is true that we will all have to monitor our usage going forward to ensure economical efficiency.

Please note – these tariff changes are not isolated to Energy Nordic clients. These changes will affect everyone in Spain with access to electricity, regardless of who your supplier is. After over 3 years postponing these updates, the Spanish government and distributors have now confirmed these changes will come into place from 1st June 2021.

You may have seen abnormalities on your meter display over the last few months, regardless of your supplier – this has been due to the introduction of these upcoming changes and new governmental regulations.

We are working hard everyday reviewing the data that is provided to us (drop by drop) to best optimise our services and products to ensure you continue get the best price possible for your energy, whilst following the CNMC guidelines and redefined changes from the distributors. As we receive more information, we will be informing each of our clients with the information that is specifically relevant to them.

The updates to the meters and the way electricity is billed will be automatic and you do not have to actively do anything. It’s also important to know that your power will not be cut by us at anytime as a result of these changes.

As explained in our previous post – 2.0TD electricity rates from June 2021, The access tariffs or access tolls 2.0 (electrical power or ‘potencia’ less than 10 kW) and 2.1 (from 10 kW to 15 kW) will be renamed 2.0 TD. These rates will have 3 energy billing periods and you can choose 2 powers (the same or different) throughout the day.

If this applies to you, please see the below image link to the previous article.

So, what are the changes for potencia greater than 15kW?

Firstly, the most significant changes are to the new 3.0 TD tariff that will affect all consumers that are currently on 3.0A and medium-voltage 3.1A (these tariffs are determined if you have a potencia higher than 15kW in at least one period.)

With the change in regulations, these tariffs are replaced by a single tariff: the 3.0 TD , therefore, supply points with a contracted power (potencia) of more than 15 kW but less than 50 kW will have this tariff.

So, the access tariffs or access tolls currently called 3.0 (low voltage, electric power (potencia) greater than 15 kW ) and 3.1 (medium voltage, electric power (potencia) greater than 15 kW) will all be renamed 3.0 TD.

As it stands, the 3.0A and 3.1A electricity rate currently has 3 time periods (with 3 different potencias) and is generally intended for SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises).

From the 1st June these rates will be called 3.0 TD and they will now have 6 different periods of consumption as well as 6 different periods for potencia at 6 different pricing rates.

(Confusing huh? Completely. You bet’ya. Please read on, we have summarised all the information below as concisely as possible. )

Knowing what these different energy periods are, for both energy consumption and for potencia, will ensure you are able to optimise your usage and bill efficiently to prevent unexpected price hikes.

The new 3.0 TD rate distinguishes the geographical areas of residence, and it will not be the same throughout the country. In fact, five different areas have been established to define the time slots that will have a different price. The areas are the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and the peninsula.

In addition, in each of these areas, four different electric seasons have been assigned according to the calendar as you are able to see below: high (ALTA), medium high (MEDIA ALTA), medium (MEDIA) and low (BAJA).

6 different energy consumption periods for tariffs with power greater than 15 kW

The new 3.0 TD rate will have six different time periods for consumption, spilt over six time bands in which the cost of electricity will be different throughout the day. The schedule for new billing periods depends on the day of the week, the month, and the geographic area.

The periods will be broken down as follows:

• P1: Is the most expensive period.
• P2, P3, P4, P5: These period maintain an intermediate price.
• P6: Is the cheapest period.

6 different contracted power (potencia) periods for tariffs with power greater than 15 kW

The 3.0 TD access rate will allow consumers to choose six potencia rates throughout the day. Depending on your consumption habits, this means you can choose a potencia for off-peak hours and another power for peak hours. The distributors are offering all consumers two free decreases to their potencia rate over the next 12 months so you can optimise your rates accurately and ensure you are not paying for more power than you need. Bonus!

These 3.0 TD rates will have 6 periods of contracted power (P1 – P6) with the potencia values in growing order. P1 being your lowest potencia value and P6 being your highest potencia value:

The periods will be broken down as follows:

• P1: Is the most expensive period and the lowest value potencia.
• P2, P3, P4, P5: These period maintain an intermediate price as value of potencia increases.
• P6: Is the cheapest period and the highest value potencia.

Exceeding your contracted power allowance

Depending on the maximum contracted power, one of this methods will be applied:

• For Points of Supply <= 50 kW. If you exceed your potencia allowance, the distributor will charge for your extra usage.
• For Points of Supply >50 kW.  The distributor will monitor every quarter of an hour and penalize excess use of contracted power heavily (more than x2).

This outlines the importance of optimising your usage of power within the time periods to ensure you are using your energy efficiently. We are educating all members of the team at Energy Nordic in detail to be able to advise all our clients to ensure optimisation and economic efficiency with regards to all changes coming in.

To summarise

To summarise these new governmental regulations coming in from 1st June 2021 for consumers with potencia greater than 15kW in at least one period of the 6 periods of contracted power:

•  There will be more importance of concentrating your electricity consumption within off-peak hours (cheapest hours). As, with these changes, all consumers will now be affected by the times they use their electricity.
• There will be 6  hourly periods (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6) for energy consumption, the cheapest corresponds to period number 6, with period 1 being the one at the highest price of electricity consumption.
•  Until now, you would have contracted a certain rate for your electrical power (potencia) and if and when you exceeded it, the trip switches may have jumped and cut your power momentarily. With the new 3.0 TD rates you can contract six different power rates for each period of the day and schedule the use of high consumption electrical appliances when the contracted power is higher and the price is lower. You can also make 2 decreases to your potencia rates in the following 12 months free of charge.
•  Your electricity bills from 1st June 2021 will include new breakdown of costs and usage such as the division of 6 different periods of energy consumption (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6), as well as the division of the contracted electric power (potencia) into 6 periods also (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6).
• Remember that on weekends and bank holidays, during all hours of the day, the contracted power remains at P6, the cheapest price.

The power of simplicity

Electricity bills have always been complicated and difficult to understand for most consumers, and now it will be even more complicated with the application of this regulation and added tariff periods. At Energy Nordic we understand that which is why we creating the simplest and clearest invoice on the market with a complete breakdown of all these costs across all different periods of the day, so that you can understand exactly what you’re paying for and optimise your usage and supply to the most cost-effective possible. Our ethos remains the same, we will always provide all our clients the lowest possible price on energy consumption, always at the market rate we pay with no profit added, across all our contracts.

Do you have questions?!

Of course you do. We completely understand you will have questions about this and how it affects you directly. We will be delivering more information as we receive it from the government and updating you at every stage – remember this won’t come into place until 1st June 2021. But please do pop a comment below and we will answer any queries you may have.