Price of electricity today, August 19: the cheapest hour will be at 15:00 and the most expensive at 21:00

The Voluntary Price for the Small Consumer (PVPC) is the regulated electricity tariff available to households and microenterprises with power up to 10 kW. Its value is updated and calculated daily following a regulated methodology that links the price to the electricity market. The organization that publishes the hourly reference prices of the PVPC daily is Red Eléctrica de España (REE), as the operator of the electrical system, through its data platforms (for example, the public portal and the redOS app), according to various information cited by Demócrata.

How the PVPC is calculated and updated daily

The starting point of the PVPC is the wholesale market price of electricity, also called the “pool.” In this market:

• Generators offer how much energy they can produce each hour of the next day and at what minimum price.
• Retailers present their purchase needs to cover the expected demand.
• The Operator of the Iberian Electricity Market (OMIE) matches offers and demands in a daily auction and sets an hourly price for each of the 24 hours of the next day, which it then publishes.

That wholesale price is the base, but it is not the PVPC itself. As explained in several Demócrata articles about the price-setting system and the regulated tariff, since the reform applied in 2024 the PVPC:

• Stopped depending exclusively on the daily “pool” price.
• Started to progressively incorporate references from futures markets (medium and long-term prices) to reduce volatility.

The combination works as follows:

• Part of the PVPC remains linked to the hourly price of the daily market, maintaining short-term price signals and encouraging savings during expensive hours.
• Another part is linked to electricity futures prices, which smooth out daily market peaks. Demócrata reports that the proportion linked to the “pool” has been decreasing in favor of these futures: the weight of futures is 25% in 2024, 40% in 2025, and 55% from 2026, so the stable component gains relevance over time.

Besides this combination of daily and forward markets, the PVPC includes other regulated elements that do not depend on the auction:

• Adjustment and balancing services activated by the system operator (REE) to guarantee grid stability.
• Transport and distribution tolls and other regulated charges of the electrical system.
• Taxes and, if applicable, meter rental.

The result is a set of hourly prices for the energy term of the PVPC updated daily, which are finally applied to consumers under the regulated tariff, along with other fixed and regulated billing components.

Who publishes the PVPC daily

Demócrata’s daily articles on the “electricity price today” explicitly state that:

• The hourly values of the wholesale market are published by OMIE.
• But the hourly values applicable to the energy term of the PVPC tariff are published daily by Red Eléctrica de España, as the system operator.

These REE publications constitute the official daily reference for the reference retailers offering the PVPC to consumers. They are also the basis for calculations made by consumer associations and comparison tools when estimating the monthly bill of a typical user under the regulated tariff.

Summary

In summary, the PVPC update process consists of:

• Taking as a base the hourly wholesale market price set by OMIE for the next day.
• Combining it with references from futures markets in increasing proportions from 2024 to limit extreme price swings.
• Adding adjustment services, tolls, regulated charges, and taxes, thus configuring the energy term and other billing components.
• Publishing the resulting hourly PVPC prices daily, a task assigned to Red Eléctrica de España, which disseminates this data on its electrical system information platforms.

In this way, the PVPC continues to reflect electricity market signals in near real-time, but with an added stability component through forward prices, under a scheme where the daily publication of hourly values is the responsibility of the system operator.

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) is the Government body that directs energy policy and therefore sets the general framework of the Spanish electricity market, in close interaction with the CNMC and European regulations. It is not the independent market supervisor (this role currently belongs to the CNMC), but the political authority that designs the rules, plans the system, and represents Spain before the EU.

1. Design of the regulatory framework for the electricity market

MITECO leads the development of the basic regulations governing the electricity sector:

• It promotes royal decrees and ministerial orders that develop Law 24/2013 of the Electricity Sector. Examples include the royal decree to strengthen the resilience of the electrical system, which recovers measures from the so-called “anti-blackout decree” and establishes voltage control obligations and conditions for storage and demand electrification (MITECO press release).
• It processes specific regulations such as the creation of the capacity market, through a ministerial order subject to public consultation (proposed order on capacity market), or the new General Regulation on Electricity and Gas Supply and Contracting, which partially transposes Directive (EU) 2019/944 and updates the regulation of retailers (Demócrata).
• It develops regulations on network access and connection, capacity auctions, and just transition nodes, relying on the provisions of Law 24/2013 and royal decrees on access and connection, as reflected in various notes on capacity granting and strategic installations.
• It promotes changes in self-consumption regulations and new figures such as the independent aggregator, whose regulation derives from European legislation and was incorporated into Law 24/2013; MITECO submits royal decrees that finalize rights and obligations of these entities to public consultation (changes in self-consumption, independent aggregator).

2. System and electrical network planning

Another central competence is energy and network planning:

• MITECO coordinates with autonomous communities the Electricity Transmission Network Planning, both the current one (horizon 2026) and the new one with horizon 2030 (Energy Sectorial Conference).
• It proposes and executes the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) and other strategies (e.g., just transition), which set targets for renewables, storage, self-consumption, and networks, thus conditioning the market structure and investment needs.
• It designs the regulatory framework for investment plans in transmission and distribution networks. The royal decree approved in 2026 to enable an additional 17.9 billion euros in networks until 2030 is adopted at MITECO’s proposal and sets procedures and investment criteria for distributors (Demócrata).

3. Relationship and coordination with the CNMC

Since Royal Decree-law 1/2019, the CNMC sets key aspects such as network access tolls and transport and distribution remuneration through circulars, but does so within a coordination framework with MITECO:

• The Ministry issues “energy policy guidelines” that the regulator must consider when approving its circulars, especially regarding toll methodologies, remuneration of regulated activities, access conditions, and technical and economic system rules (analysis on CNMC/CNE).
• There is a Cooperation Commission to resolve discrepancies between CNMC circulars and Ministry guidelines; some Council of State opinions have highlighted tensions when the CNMC approaches the “energy policy” domain that belongs to MITECO.
• In crisis or high volatility situations, the Government (through MITECO) can request the CNMC for “maximum supervision” and reinforce its monitoring of prices and proper functioning of energy markets, thus maintaining a political direction of supervision without replacing the independent regulator (recent example).

4. European dimension and State aid

The Spanish electricity market is strongly conditioned by EU law (electricity internal market directives, regulations like REMIT, State aid rules). In this area, MITECO:

• Negotiates with the European Commission the compatibility of national measures with State aid rules and the internal market, as with the new capacity market, whose proposal has been processed in parallel with talks with Brussels (Demócrata).
• Leads the Spanish position in reforms such as the European electricity market, which influence internal tariff design, capacity mechanisms, long-term contracts, or consumer protection.

In short, MITECO designs and plans the electricity market framework (rules, investments, figures, and energy policy objectives) and coordinates with the CNMC and the European Commission to ensure Spanish regulation is coherent with the energy transition and EU law. The CNMC, in turn, exercises independent supervision and inspection, issues technical circulars, and applies sanctions, but does so within the strategic lines set by the Ministry and Government.

To subscribe today to the Voluntary Price for the Small Consumer (PVPC), the regulated electricity tariff in Spain, the supply must meet technical requirements (voltage and power), customer type, and retailer conditions. These clearly delimit that the PVPC is a tariff designed for households and small consumption, not for large companies or high power levels.

1. Type of consumer who can contract PVPC

• PVPC can be subscribed to by holders of supply points who are natural persons or microenterprises, as explained by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition in an informative note on measures against the energy crisis published in 2024 (Moncloa).
• The design is therefore domestic or very small business. The 2026-2030 Strategy against energy poverty itself recalls that PVPC is used as the basis for the electric social bonus, aimed at vulnerable consumers, reinforcing this household orientation.
• Specialized media and the newspaper Demócrata describe PVPC as the regulated tariff for consumers with power up to 10 kW, typically average households (for example, a “typical household” with about 4.4 kW and consumption of 3,500 kWh/year).

2. Technical requirements: voltage and power

• The Government itself details that PVPC is a price available to holders of supply points: “with voltages not exceeding 1 kV and with contracted power equal to or less than 10 kW” (Moncloa note cited).
• Voltage: this practically means low voltage (domestic supplies and small premises, not medium or high voltage networks).
• Power: the threshold of 10 kW is the determining limit. If the supply has contracted power above this, it cannot subscribe to PVPC and must contract in the free market.
• Therefore, any supply (home, small business, etc.) with low voltage ≤ 1 kV and ≤ 10 kW, whose holder meets the profile, can potentially be on PVPC.

3. Reference retailer and regulated market

• PVPC can only be contracted with a Reference Retailer (COR), companies designated and authorized by the Government to offer this regulated tariff and manage the social bonus.
• Demócrata explains that if the bill shows one of these CORs (such as Energía XXI, Curenergía, Régsiti, Baser COR, etc.), the consumer is in the regulated market and can have PVPC; if the company is another, the contract is in the free market.
• CORs are also the only ones who can apply the electric social bonus, which requires having PVPC contracted in the main residence.

4. Companies, communities, and self-consumption

• Companies: microenterprises that meet the limits of low voltage ≤ 1 kV and ≤ 10 kW can also subscribe to PVPC. In contrast, SMEs and large companies with higher power or voltages are excluded and must contract in the free market.
• Homeowners’ associations: recent official references do not detail a specific PVPC regime for community supplies. In practice, many community contracts (for elevators, common services, garages, etc.) exceed 10 kW, so they do not fit within the PVPC power scope and are supplied in the free market.
• Self-consumption: the Ministry and IDAE indicate that bills for self-consumers subscribed to the regulated market (PVPC) are being adapted to reflect production and its allocation. This implies that self-consumption is compatible with PVPC, provided the supply point meets the general requirements (low voltage, power ≤ 10 kW, and contracted with COR).

5. Applicable regulations

The PVPC figure is inserted within the framework of Law 24/2013, of the Electricity Sector, which regulates the Spanish electrical system as a whole, and the general regulation of supply, marketing, and aggregation of electrical energy approved by royal decree, referred to in various notes from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the 2026-2030 Strategy against energy poverty. Within this framework, specific regulation of PVPC and reference retailers is issued, as well as rules linking PVPC to the electric social bonus and the vulnerable consumer statute (defined, among others, by Royal Decree 897/2017, cited by Moncloa in its notes on aid to vulnerable consumers).

In summary, to subscribe to PVPC the supply must be domestic or very small, at low voltage, with contracted power ≤ 10 kW, and contracted exclusively with a Reference Retailer. Outside this perimeter, contracting must be done in the free market.