PVPC hits 0.92 €/kWh while fixed rates sit at 0.08, forum users say

A forum user sets the PVPC at 0.92 €/kWh, while 2021 fixed contracts held at 0.08

In March 2022, the regulated tariff — the PVPC (regulated voluntary price for small consumers) — stood at 0.92 € per kilowatt-hour excluding taxes, according to one forum participant. At that time, those who had signed fixed-price contracts months earlier paid, depending on the cases cited, between 0.08 and 0.15. The gap between the two figures is a factor of ten. And the discussion is not about preferences: it is about a decision that, with the numbers on the table, a portion of consumers still has not made.

The regulated mechanism is simple and brutal. The price is set by the most expensive technology entering to cover demand, and that technology is the natural gas combined cycle. With gas prices soaring and the war in Ukraine in the background, the PVPC bill became a daily lottery ticket. Those with closed prices, on the other hand, watched the show from the stands.

Why the PVPC reached 0.92 € per kilowatt-hour

The marginalist design of the system is the first suspect. The most expensive energy entering the auction sets the price for all others, and when natural gas skyrockets, it drags every time slot of the regulated market with it. On paper, the PVPC was supposed to reflect the real cost of generating electricity; in practice, it reflects the real cost of breathing gas in a war context.

Warnings came before the blow. Since November 2021, the wholesale futures market was already anticipating prices of 0.5 € per kilowatt-hour for February and March 2022, according to the participants themselves. Those who looked at those data and still waited, were left at the platform. It was not a one-off event; it was a trend. The conclusion repeated insistently is uncomfortable: natural gas prices have no short-term solution as long as the conflict remains open.

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The 2021 fixed prices: the window that closed without noise

The figures circulating in the exchange draw a striking range. A contract closed in June 2021 averaged 0.15 €/kWh. Another signed in December, with Repsol, dropped to 0.11. Users of a tariff from Endesa, already withdrawn from the market, paid 0.099 until it was revised to 0.13 in January. And the most extreme case cited: a bill from March to April at 0.08 €/kWh.

An idea repeated in the thread is that the free market prorates the cost so that you always pay the same, with a surcharge compared to the regulated rate. That reasoning ceases to be decisive when the regulated rate multiplies its price by ten. The operational key repeated to the point of exhaustion: do not talk to salespeople, do not accept tariffs with fancy commercial names, search on your own for a fixed price for several years and with zero commitment to stay. The detailed calculation, item by item, with power and energy terms of each offer, is what tips the balance.

Can you return to the PVPC after switching to the free market?
The antiestéticar of not being able to return acts as the main brake. Several voices in the thread argue that this is a strategy to retain customers: if tomorrow the regulated rate becomes cheaper, you check the comparator again, make a call, and switch again. Legislating to prevent retroactive return is considered a fantasy, and some participants recall that the movement in and out has never been irreversible.

Some argue the opposite: that companies prepare contracts designed so that the customer does not return. The fine print exists, of course. Rescission clauses have been described that require paying several months of consumption if broken before expiration. That is why the advice is repeated: read before signing and avoid guided telephone contracting.

The gas cap: the bill that also reaches fixed prices

Here the story complicates. The gas cap mechanism lowers the auction cost, but the cost is shared among all consumers afterwards. Contracts signed before its entry into force will see it in their next review; those who change tariffs will assume it immediately. The reported amounts are variable and increasing: it started around 6 cents per kilowatt-hour and in a few months jumped to 11 and 13, until reaching a supplement of 0.13471 €/kWh in a specific month.

With that addition, and with renewals that relocate energy to 0.25 €/kWh, a free market user may end up paying more than the PVPC would have cost. Power also weighs: in one case described, the fixed terms of the free market are more expensive than those of the regulated rate in both peak and off-peak periods.

Social bonus, the exception that breaks any comparison

No analysis of fixed price applies equally to everyone. With a discount of 25% or more on the regulated tariff, and with low consumption, the balance tilts the other way. There are cases of bills of 30 euros per month with 2.3 kW of contracted power. Profiles accumulating both electrical and thermal social bonuses are outside the logic of general savings, and decide with criteria that do not apply to the rest.

The closing is therefore open. With the differentials described, a mass migration to fixed price seemed reasonable. It did not happen. The argument that “you cannot return” and distrust of the fine print held many back, and today no one knows how long the gas cap that levels everyone from above will last.