Consumer group warns of trick used by some electricity companies to attract customers
Spanish consumers' association Facua has conducted a comparative analysis between free market and regulated tariffs to see which companies give real value for money for this utility
"To evaluate the offers, you shouldn´t just be checking the energy prices." This is the advice provided by consumer group Facua-Consumidores after detecting a trick used by some electricity suppliers to attract customers. These suppliers try making users believe that their tariffs are more advantageous than those of the regulated PVPC tariff (the voluntary price for the small consumer).
The association has conducted a comparative study of electricity offers from ten free market energy suppliers compared to the regulated tariff. As a result, it has confirmed that some of these utility companies offer energy consumption at prices below the PVPC tariff, but they then inflate the contracted power rate by more than double. This translates, in some cases, into higher bills.
Facua carried out the study on 2 September, looking at 18 offers from Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy, Repsol, TotalEnergies, CHC Energía, Octopus, Holaluz, Gana Energía and Nexus Energía, comparing them with the regulated tariffs for the months of June, July and August.
The Spanish government is forcing the main supplier groups in the sector to offer the PVPC rate through their so-called 'last resort' retailers: Energía XXI (owned by Endesa), Curenergía (Iberdrola), Gas & Power (Naturgy), Régsiti (Repsol) and Baser (TotalEnergies).
Only five are cheaper
With the regulated tariff, Facua reports that the average user's electricity bill (contracted power of 4.4 kW - the same during peak and off-peak times - and a monthly consumption of 366 kWh) has averaged out at 80.45 euros in the last three months: 79.41 euros in June, 81.22 euros in July and 80.71 euros in August (including indirect taxes).
Only five of the free market electricity companies analysed have managed to bill at prices below those of the regulated market in the last three months, while two of them stand out for having the highest bills, namely Gana Energía and Holaluz, with bills up to 17% higher than those on the PVPC tariff.
However, in order to do a proper evaluation of what's on offer, it is not only the price of energy that must be reviewed, as there are tariffs where contracted power is costing more than double that of the PVPC tariff, according to this consumers' association.
Facua points out that, with Gana Energía's rates, the price of contracted power is up to 110% more expensive than the regulated tariff in effect since January 2025. According to the analysis, this energy company charges 6.74 euros per kilowatt (kW) of power, while the PVPC rate is 3.21 euros/kW. The second most expensive power is that of CHC Energía, which reaches 6.35 euros/kW, closely followed by Nexus Energía at 6.32 euros/kW.
As for the price of the energy consumed, in the 24-hour fixed price offers with no hourly discrimination, the rate per kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy consumed ranges, according to Facua's analysis, from 15.14 cents for Octopus to 17.68 cents for Gana Energía.
In the case of the PVPC tariff, over the last three months the price of energy consumed has averaged 24.04 cents/kW during peak hours, 15.77 cents/kW during flat-rate hours and 15.66 cents/kW during off-peak hours.
