Welcome to the June edition of BeClever, Clevergy's energy newsletter! As every month, we're sharing the latest news from the energy sector. The Royal Decree and the consequences of the blackout are the focus of this month's newsletter.
Royal Decree-Law 7/2025 on urgent measures to strengthen the electrical system
Following the blackout that occurred on April 28 in Spain, the Government approved on June 24 a Royal Decree-Law with a whole series of measures that aim to resolve the deficiencies detected in the system as soon as possible and "contribute to strengthening the Spanish electricity system, as well as achieving savings in energy costs for all consumers, while also providing certainty to all stakeholders."
Royal Decree-Law 7/2025 proposes urgent measures to strengthen the Spanish electricity system following the April 28 crisis, structured around eight major blocks:
- Strengthening system supervision and verification and data transparency
- Centralization and improvement of access to user consumption data
- Strengthening voltage control and resilience of the transmission network
- Boosting and simplifying energy storage, especially hybrid with renewables
- Flexibility and promotion of independent aggregation and self-consumption
- Review and streamlining of network and infrastructure planning and processing
- Reactivation of incentives for industrial electrification, mobility and air conditioning
- Accelerating the integration and repowering of renewables
The decree-law strengthens the supervisory role of the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) and the management of the electrical system of Red Eléctrica de España (REE).
Among all the concrete measures, the recognition of “Consumer energy measurement data is one of the key elements of the energy transition"and the assignment to Red Eléctrica of the mission of creating a system that would serve as a single access point for the visibility and availability of energy data. It is not clear if and when a new system will be created: currently this data is available either in Datadis or in distributors.
Another positive point and highly applauded in the sector, from associations such as ENTER is the reinforcement of the figure of the independent aggregator as a key player for flexibilityThe independent aggregator is expected to actively participate in the electricity markets to develop demand response and empower consumers. The following also appear: self-consumption managers, a new regulated figure that is the natural or legal persons who represent the interests of consumers associated with self-consumption, through authorization from them, carrying out the necessary procedures on their behalf for its proper functioning.
Energy communities will also benefit from the Increase in the maximum distance between generation and consumption to 5 km: "We have incorporated a fundamental measure to also promote the competitiveness of our industry, but also of consumers, a measure we call five by five and it is to expand the self-consumption radius to 5 kilometers for projects of a maximum of five megawatts." commented Sara Aagesen, Minister for Ecological Transition, at the presentation of the decree-law.
There are also specific measures to streamline procedures and promote storage facilities, measures to encourage the installation of aerothermal and geothermal energy, the promotion and upgrade of renewable energy, and many others related to the control and stability of generation.
The Spanish electricity market after the blackout
As we've seen, the decree-law presented this week aims to change many things to improve the system, but there are other issues to resolve. To prevent further blackouts, the energy mix has changed, and stability-generating technologies such as gas, nuclear, and hydropower have increased, with a much higher margin than usual and wasting renewable energy. As a consequence, The cost of electricity has increased due to technical restrictions and adjustment services, affecting independent energy marketers in particular. According to ACIE (Association of Independent Energy Marketers), The cost of technical restrictions increased from 11 euros per megawatt in April to 24 euros in May.. The adjustment services of last May were the most expensive in history, and the difference is remarkable, as you can see in this graph published by Renewable Energy.
As a result, the bill of the 8,3 million households that have contracted the regulated electricity tariff (PVPC), would have risen 15% in the May settlementIn the free market, some marketing companies such as Gana Energía They added a 6% surcharge to their customers due to the increase in system costs.
Finally this week the CNMC (National Commission of Markets and Competition) has decided prohibit electricity suppliers from introducing a fee to offset the costs arising from “anti-blackout measures”.
This ban has been strongly opposed by independent retailers, whose margins are lower and who therefore face a difficult situation. ACENEL (The Association of Electricity Marketers) has expressed its deep displeasure at the fact that it is the marketers or the consumers who have to assume the economic consequences of the blackout., and propose that the additional cost be added to the bill in the access rates, as is the case with tolls, charges, or capacity payments.
We are talking about around 2.000 billion euros and although On June 12, the CNMC also approved the new standard for voltage control and a new protocol for possible blackouts., everything seems to indicate that the new protocol will not be ready until the first quarter of 2026, and that until this date adjustment services will remain highMeanwhile, much renewable energy continues to be wasted. Last May One in every five megawatts generated by photovoltaic energy was wasted.
Energetically, we speak of energy
Last month we launched Energetically, a podcast where we talk about energy, and we've already released three episodes:
- Jorge González (With You Energy)
- Jaime Arbona and Gonzalo Lahera (Selectra)
- Jose Antonio González (Repsol)
You can watch or listen to Energetically from YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast o iVoox
