OCU blames Middle East as Spain's electricity hits 20 cents per kWh

OCU points to the Middle East as Spain's electricity nears 20 cents per kWh

Anyone checking electricity prices these days will get a shock: peaks of 30 cents early in the morning and at night, with averages hovering around 20 cents per kWh. OCU (Spain's consumer organisation) has put a figure on the surge and blames it squarely on instability in the Middle East. The diagnosis is not innocent: it rules out any domestic responsibility.

The numbers are stubborn. Under the previous government the kWh traded around 14 cents; now, under the current one, the average is close to 20 and peak-hour bands shoot up to 30. In short, the electricity bill costs twice as much. That is where the geopolitical explanation loses steam: the Middle East makes gas more expensive, but it does not explain why bills had been climbing for years before the latest spike.

Defenders of the government insist that nobody controls the wholesale market and that solar capacity has driven prices down during sunny hours. Critics, calculator in hand, point out that the electricity subsidy is paid for by everyone and that energy poverty, far from disappearing, has become entrenched with bills people no longer even dare to look at.

The detail that jars: 14 cents under Rajoy was "energy poverty"; 20 or 30 cents under the current government is "price restraint". The war of soundbites does not lower the bill. Meanwhile, the electricity market keeps setting prices, and the end-of-month bill knows nothing about blaming others.