The president of the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), Cani Fernández, specified this Tuesday in Congress that on the day of the 2025 blackout, "sufficient" regulatory mechanisms were operational to control the electricity system's voltage and that at no time was there a "regulatory vacuum".
During his appearance before the Economy Commission of Congress, where he reported on the actions of Competition in relation to the energy blackout of April 28, 2025, Fernández stressed that the system was not "at any time" devoid of regulatory coverage and that on that day there was a valid operating procedure in place for voltage control, which was mandatory and known by the sector agents and the system operator.
In this context, he has explained that on April 28, 2025, the available regulatory and technical instruments "were sufficient to adequately manage the system".
Operating Procedure 7.4 and regulatory adaptation
Among the aspects it has addressed is Operating Procedure 7.4, which in Spain regulates the complementary voltage control service in the electricity transmission network and whose update did not occur until one month after the blackout.
Fernández has pointed out that the CNMC had been working on this procedure for some time, from before receiving the proposal from Red Eléctrica until its publication, and that the review began with a first contact between the body and the system operator in 2020.
The president of the CNMC has highlighted that the Iberian energy market in April is "nothing like" it was five years ago, not even like it was two years ago or what it will be in a year, as it is "constantly evolving". As she indicated, the institution's work consists of adjusting regulation to that market dynamic, "improving regulatory mechanisms".
He added that this adaptation "must be done with guarantees, following the necessary processes, contrasting the proposals with the sector, both in public consultations and in working group meetings or by using pilot projects or regulatory sandboxes when necessary".
To close his appearance, Fernández has reiterated that at all times the system has the necessary mechanisms to ensure adequate management of the electrical system.
Multifactorial origin of the energy zero and files
Fernández has also detailed that, despite the opening of several sanctioning proceedings for the blackout against both electricity companies and the system operator, Red Eléctrica, the episode had a "multifactorial" origin.
"The incident responded to a multifactorial origin, due to a temporal series of events that progressively unbalanced the system and culminated in the electrical blackout due to overvoltage," he indicated, before reviewing the actions that Competition has developed around the energy blackout of April 28, 2025.
Within the scope of its powers, the CNMC opened several information proceedings to analyze the circumstances that led to the blackout and establish the relevant facts in light of the sectoral electricity regulations. Based on that analysis, the body has identified indications of possible breaches that would have affected the functioning of the system and could constitute administrative infractions, which has led to the formal initiation of sanctioning proceedings.
Technical Investigation and Next Administrative Phase
The president of the agency has underlined that the investigative process has required reviewing more than 13 gigabytes (GB) of information and thousands of pages of documentation, due both to the "technical complexity" of the incident and the high volume of data examined.
Fernández has indicated that this work has been carried out based on the CNMC's own information files, on the reports already issued, and on the organization's participation in the work of the European panel of experts (Entso-e).
"From this moment on, an administrative investigation phase is opened, in which interested parties may submit allegations and propose the taking of evidence they deem appropriate," he/she stated, recalling that, due to the legal separation between the investigation phase and the resolution phase, he/she cannot offer further details on the content of the ongoing files.