The electric debt is approaching its end: how much can it cut your bill

As of today (08/21/2026), there is no specific legislative file in the parliamentary records processing a “ministerial order that sets the charges of the electrical system for 2027”. That is, this order, as such, does not have its own “parliamentary status” (admission, amendments, committee, report, etc.), because ministerial orders are not processed as laws before the General Courts.

1. What does appear in the official records

From the institutional information consulted, the following can be inferred:

• For previous years, orders setting electrical charges have been approved and published in the BOE:
  • Order TED/113/2024, of February 9, which establishes the prices of the electrical system charges and various regulated costs for 2024, published in the BOE on 02/14/2024 (BOE 02-14-2024).
  • Subsequent orders setting charges and other regulated costs for 2025 and 2026 (also as TED orders, published in 2024 and 2025, respectively).
  All of these are regulations from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, approved and published directly as regulations.
• For 2027, what is clearly identified and underway is the public consultation and information of an order in the gas sector:
  • “Public consultation and information on the proposed order establishing the charges of the gas system and the remuneration and fees of basic underground storages for the gas year 2027”, open from 07/27/2026 to 09/04/2026, with full text available in PDF on the MITECO website (consultation documentation).
  This proposal refers to the gas system, not the electrical system, although it follows a similar regulatory architecture (charges, fees, and regulated remuneration).

Regarding parliamentary initiatives, there is some written question in the Senate (for example, (15)684/006318) that cites a previous 2024 ministerial order linked to supply problems in the Canary Islands, but not a bill or legislative proposal processing the setting of electrical charges for 2027 as such.

2. Why there is no “parliamentary status” for the order

The underlying reason is legal in nature:

• The charges and tolls of the electrical system are based on higher-ranking regulations (Law 24/2013 of the Electrical Sector, royal decrees setting methodologies, etc.), which have passed or pass through Parliament or, where appropriate, through the validation of royal decree-laws.
• The specific annual application of the charges (amounts, allocation of certain costs, adjustments for each year) is set by ministerial order. This order:
  • Is processed internally within the ministry.
  • May be subject to public consultation or public hearing and information (as is happening in parallel in the gas system for 2027).
  • Is approved by the head of the Ministry and published in the BOE.
• Ministerial orders are not voted on in the Congress or Senate, nor do they follow the legislative process (consideration, amendments, committee, plenary, second reading in the Senate, etc.).

Parliamentary control over this matter exists but is of a different nature:

• Oral and written questions to the Government (for example, about the impact of charges on the bill or about the system’s deficit/surplus).
• Appearances of the Minister/Vice President for Ecological Transition or the CNMC before Congress and Senate committees.
• Non-legislative motions and proposals urging modification of the charge structure, transferring part of the costs to the General State Budgets, etc.

3. Reasonable situation of the 2027 electrical charges order

Based on the pattern of previous years and available information, it can be concluded that, for the 2027 fiscal year:

• The ministerial order that will set the electrical system charges would likely still be in the pre-regulatory or internal technical drafting phase (reports, coordination with the CNMC, possible public hearing), without yet materializing in an identified BOE publication.
• There is currently no specific parliamentary file on “the ministerial order setting the electrical system charges for 2027”; any debate is channeled through general control instruments.

In summary: the ministerial order for electrical charges for 2027 is not “under parliamentary processing” in the technical sense of the term, but in the Government’s regulatory circuit. Parliament intervenes only indirectly, through political control and the laws that enable and limit what that order can establish.

The National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) is the independent economic regulator of the energy sectors in Spain. In the electrical sector, Law 3/2013, establishing the CNMC, and Law 24/2013, of the Electrical Sector, assign it a broad set of powers ranging from economic regulation of networks to market supervision and consumer protection.

1. General framework of energy powers

According to Law 3/2013 itself, the CNMC’s purpose is to “guarantee, preserve, and promote the correct functioning, transparency, and existence of effective competition” in all markets, including energy markets. Specifically, article 7 of that law assigns it specific functions of supervision and control of the electrical and gas sectors, as well as the authority to approve methodologies and rules through circulars and to issue implementing acts of those circulars published in the BOE.

2. Economic regulation: tolls and network remuneration

The CNMC is responsible for the economic regulation of electricity transmission and distribution activities, which are natural monopolies. According to Law 24/2013 and its own circulars:

• Approves the methodology and conditions for access and connection to the networks, including economic criteria, capacity evaluation, reasons for denial, minimum contract content, and transparency obligations (expressly stated in article 33.11 of the Electrical Sector Law, cited in resolution BOE-A-2025-9913).
• Sets the remuneration methodologies for transmission and distribution networks and the financial remuneration rate (TRF) applicable to these activities, through specific circulars, which are then reflected in the tolls paid by consumers (as shown in news and circulars on network remuneration for 2026-2031).
• Determines the access tolls to the networks, calculating how regulated costs are distributed among different types of consumers, as described in CNMC resolutions on electrical tolls.

3. Access and connection to networks

A central part of the CNMC’s functions in electricity is to regulate generation and demand access to the networks:

• Through circulars and resolutions (for example, the Resolution of April 30, 2025, BOE-A-2025-9913, and the Resolution of June 8, 2025, BOE-A-2025-12396) it defines the methodologies to calculate access capacity and the detailed specifications for demand.
• Imposes obligations of publication and standardized formats so that network managers publish the available capacity at each node, enhancing transparency and allowing promoters and consumers to make informed decisions.
• Supervises that granting or denying access and connection permits complies with technical and non-discriminatory criteria, and may require detailed justifications for denials, as provided in the resolution on firm demand capacity.

4. System services and operation: voltage control and adjustments

The CNMC also intervenes in the regulatory design of the operation of the electrical system, especially after the 2025 blackout:

• Based on article 7.1 of Law 3/2013 and Circular 3/2019, it establishes the methodologies for balancing and non-frequency services (for example, the voltage control service and the autonomous start-up service).
• Through resolutions such as those of June 12, 2025 (BOE-A-2025-13076) and October 20, 2025 (BOE-A-2025-21198) it modifies and develops the operation procedures (P.O. 3.1, 3.6, 7.4, 9.1, 14.4, among others) to:
  • Define how the voltage control service is provided and remunerated.
  • Introduce urgent measures to stabilize voltage against sudden system variations.
  • Adjust scheduling and balancing services to increase supply security.
• It can promote pilot projects and regulatory “sandboxes” to test new voltage control schemes or active demand response, and later incorporate them into ordinary regulation.

5. Market supervision, competition, and consumer protection

Beyond the purely technical dimension, the CNMC acts as competition authority and supervisor of electrical companies’ behavior:

• Monitors the competitive functioning of the wholesale and retail electricity markets, being able to open investigative and sanctioning proceedings upon indications of price manipulation, abuse of dominant position, or restrictive practices (based on Law 15/2007 on Defense of Competition and EU law).
• Controls the practices of retailers regarding contracting, information, and advertising, clarifying their obligations and reminding, for example, the prohibition of unsolicited commercial calls and the need to clearly inform about risks and costs of certain contracts.
• Supervises the settlement system and the income-cost balance of the electrical system, periodically publishing settlements and data on tariff deficits or surpluses.
• Issues reports and regulatory proposals on draft royal decrees and other electrical sector regulations, advising the Government and providing recommendations to improve regulation.

6. Institutional coordination and scope of its action

All these functions are exercised in coordination with the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, which sets energy policy and system charges, and with the system operator (Red Eléctrica de España), which technically manages the grid. The CNMC thus positions itself as the independent economic regulator and supervisor of the electrical sector, with normative powers (circulars), continuous supervision, regulatory change proposals, and, when appropriate, sanctioning powers, always guided by the principles of efficiency, transparency, objectivity, and non-discrimination imposed by Law 3/2013.

In Spain, the charges of the electrical system (the regulated part of the bill intended to finance system costs other than networks) can only be modified following a fairly strict legal framework, which combines the Electrical Sector Law, a methodology royal decree, and annual ministerial orders, all with CNMC participation and public hearing procedures.

1. Basic legal framework

The reference regulation is Law 24/2013, of December 26, of the Electrical Sector (text in the BOE). This law:

• Distinguishes between tolls (transport and distribution costs) and charges (other regulated costs: renewables, extra-peninsular extra costs, deficit, etc.).
• Establishes that system costs must be covered with regulated revenues, avoiding the generation of new structural deficits and requiring review of tolls and charges if certain imbalance thresholds are exceeded.
• Requires that any measure increasing costs or reducing system revenues be accompanied by a counterpart that maintains the economic-financial balance of the electrical system.

Royal Decree-law 1/2019, of January 11 (BOE-A-2019-315) reformed Law 24/2013 to adapt powers to European law and more precisely define who does what:

• The Government, after a report from the CNMC, establishes the methodology for calculating the charges.
• The head of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), after agreement by the Government’s Delegated Commission for Economic Affairs, approves the charges annually by ministerial order.

2. Charges methodology (Royal Decree 148/2021)

In application of this mandate, Royal Decree 148/2021, of March 9, establishing the methodology for calculating the electrical system charges was approved (BOE-A-2021-4239).

This royal decree defines, among other aspects:

• Which costs are financed via charges (deficits, specific remuneration regime for renewables, extra-peninsular extra costs, capacity payments, CNMC remuneration, etc.).
• The binomial structure of charges (power term and energy term) and their breakdown by tariff segments and time periods.
• The procedure for periodic review of the methodology (initially every six years, with the possibility of shortening for exceptional reasons).
• Coordination with the toll methodology set by the CNMC in Circular 3/2020 (BOE-A-2020-1066).

Any modification of the charges methodology therefore requires changing this royal decree (or approving a new one), following the general regulatory procedure:

• Processing according to Law 50/1997, of the Government and Law 39/2015 (impact assessment, internal reports, etc.).
• Prior public consultation and public hearing and information through the MITECO portal, except justified exceptions.
• Report from the CNMC, the Council of State when applicable, and other mandatory bodies.
• Approval by the Council of Ministers and publication in the BOE.

3. Annual approval and modification of charges

Once the methodology is set by royal decree, the specification of charge amounts is done each year by ministerial orders, for example:

• Order TED/113/2024, for 2024 charges.
• Order TED/1487/2024, for 2025 charges.
• Order TED/1524/2025, for 2026 charges.

From these orders and the explanatory memorandum of Royal Decree 148/2021 and Royal Decree-law 1/2019, the legal requirements to modify charges can be inferred:

• Competence: only MITECO, by order, can set or modify charge prices; the CNMC cannot alter the charges royal decree nor substitute the ministerial order.
• Strict adherence to the methodology of Royal Decree 148/2021 and the economic-financial balance limits of Law 24/2013 (not generating new structural deficits, correcting annual imbalances when exceeding established thresholds, etc.).
• Public hearing and information procedure for each draft order, published on the Ministry’s website, with a period for stakeholders and users to submit comments (a repeated practice noted by the “I Want to Influence” notes of the Demócrata newspaper and the orders themselves in the BOE).
• CNMC report on the proposed charges, consistent with its role as regulator and the competential distribution set by Royal Decree-law 1/2019.
• Agreement of the Government’s Delegated Commission for Economic Affairs before order approval, as required by Law 24/2013 after its reform.
• Publication in the BOE indicating the effective date and, if applicable, transitional regimes.

4. Alignment with European Union law

This entire scheme is also supported by Regulation (EU) 2019/943, on the internal electricity market, which imposes requirements on the financial sustainability of the system, transparency, and separation between network costs and other costs. The setting of charges and their revisions must respect these principles and, when measures have the dimension of state aid (for example, capacity mechanisms or certain compensations financed via charges), they must also be subject to European Commission control, as has occurred with the “anti-blackout” mechanism authorized by Brussels.

In summary, modifying the electrical system charges is not an isolated discretionary decision but the result of: (1) a legal and methodological framework of legal and regulatory rank, (2) the mandatory participation of the CNMC and consultative bodies, (3) consultation and public hearing procedures, and (4) formal publication of the new amounts in the BOE by ministerial order in accordance with the methodology approved by royal decree.