The price of electricity shoots up again this Tuesday, August 25, for consumers under the regulated market. The PVPC reaches 364.54 euros/MWh between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM and chains three hours above 300 euros/MWh during the evening-night. A rise that coincides with another particularly striking anomaly: the wholesale market begins to tighten strongly when there is still solar production.
The data released this Tuesday by the former governor of the Bank of Spain Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez, known as MAFO, focuses precisely on that difference. "Today they will pay 365 euros for each MWh at nine o'clock at night," he points out, before warning of the high prices recorded in the wholesale market even in the last hours of photovoltaic production.
The PVPC data published by Red Eléctrica confirm the escalation. The regulated tariff reaches an average price of 183.33 euros/MWh this Tuesday, 7.2% more than on Monday, when it was at 171.03 euros/MWh. The cheapest hour is recorded between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM, at 35.23 euros/MWh, while the maximum occurs between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM, at 364.54 euros/MWh.
⚠️These are the electricity prices that consumers under the regulated market will pay today (before taxes).
— The Good MAFO (@fdezordonez) August 25, 2026
Today they will pay 365 € for each MWh at nine o'clock at night (before taxes).
The wholesale market will be at 210 €/MWh at seven, in sunny hours!!!!😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/6ObUwbywmU
Three consecutive hours above 300 euros
The rise is not concentrated in just one hour.
Between 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM, the PVPC reaches 319.52 euros/MWh. An hour later it rises to 355.69 euros, and between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM it marks the daily maximum of 364.54 euros/MWh. At 10:00 PM it continues at 279.42 euros and between 11:00 PM and midnight it remains at 270.19 euros/MWh.
The difference compared to the central hours of the day is enormous. Between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM, the PVPC drops to 36.75 euros/MWh; between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM, to 35.23; and during the following hour it remains at 38.71 euros/MWh.
For a consumer under the regulated tariff, shifting certain consumption from nine o'clock at night to three o'clock in the afternoon means facing energy prices ten times lower this Tuesday, although the final amount of the bill incorporates other elements and depends on consumption and the specific conditions of the supply.
The wholesale market also skyrockets
The PVPC and the wholesale market are not the same. And that distinction is fundamental to understanding the figures.
The wholesale market, known as pool, records this Tuesday an average price of 120.35 euros/MWh, 26.6% higher than the 95.03 euros/MWh on Monday, according to data from OMIE collected by market comparators.
The hourly differences are equally extraordinary.
At the beginning of the afternoon, when photovoltaic production is high, the wholesale price plummets: 6.58 euros/MWh between 12:00 and 13:00; 5.69 between 13:00 and 14:00; 5.80 in the following hour and barely 4.14 euros/MWh between 15:00 and 16:00.
Then it changes rapidly.
Between 17:00 and 18:00 it rises to 51.50 euros/MWh; an hour later it reaches 113.14 and between 19:00 and 20:00 it hits 185.21 euros/MWh. Market data subsequently show prices exceeding 200 euros during the night hours.
That is why it is important to clarify Fernández Ordóñez's message: the sharp increase begins when there is still solar production, but the minimum prices of the day do coincide with the hours of greatest photovoltaic contribution.
Why does the consumer pay 365 euros if the 'pool' is cheaper?
This is one of the keys of the day.
Since 2026, the PVPC no longer directly reproduces the hourly price of the wholesale market. The reform of the regulated tariff has progressively reduced its exposure to the pool by incorporating references from the futures markets.
This year, 60% of the energy reference of the PVPC comes from that basket of future prices and 40% from the daily and intraday market, as Cinco Días recalls when analyzing the electrical escalation of this summer. Other necessary components are added to determine the price that the regulated consumer bears.
This explains seemingly contradictory situations: the price of the wholesale market can plummet during certain hours without the PVPC falling in the same proportion.
Expensive gas, heat, and little wind energy
The rise this summer is due to a combination of factors.
The first is demand. Successive heat waves have increased the use of air conditioning and have raised electricity consumption. According to data collected by Cinco Días, demand increased by 14% year-on-year in July and around 6% in August.
The second is natural gas. Tensions over its international supply have increased its price, and that increase ends up being transferred to the electricity market when combined cycles start producing.
And the third is reduced wind production during anticyclonic periods. When solar generation progressively disappears at the end of the afternoon and there is not enough alternative renewable production, gas combined cycles gain weight in covering demand and can end up setting much higher prices.
The cost of keeping the system stable also weighs
There is another element that has been gaining prominence since the blackout in April 2025: the adjustment services and the reinforced operation of Red Eléctrica.
The system operator maintains a reinforced schedule that resorts to combined cycle plants to have synchronous generation capable of providing certain necessary capacities for the stability of the grid.
These plants can come into operation through adjustment services even if they have not initially matched in the daily market. And that operation has a cost.
According to the analysis published this Tuesday by Cinco Días, sources from the sector attribute part of the increase in the final price of electricity to these services and question why, more than a year after the blackout, the participation of renewable installations capable of providing some of those services has not been sufficiently expanded. Red Eléctrica, for its part, has defended that the impact of these measures on the market is limited.
August returns prices typical of the energy crisis
The evolution of recent months shows the change.
The wholesale market recorded an average price of 69.59 euros/MWh in June. In July, it jumped to 104.75 euros/MWh, the highest level in 16 months, according to OMIE data collected by Cinco Días. This Tuesday, the average price reaches 120.35 euros/MWh.
But the average hides the phenomenon that is characterizing this summer: a huge gap between solar hours and the beginning of the night.
Photovoltaics can bring the market practically to zero during the afternoon and, just a few hours later, the withdrawal of that production coincides with still high demand and a greater participation of gas plants.
This Tuesday offers an extreme example. The wholesale market goes from 4.14 euros/MWh between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM to prices above 200 euros during the night. And for households covered by the PVPC, the maximum ends even higher: 364.54 euros/MWh between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM.