According to the final data published by the Operator of the Iberian Electricity Market (OMIE), the maximum price on Wednesday is 1.3% higher than the price set for Tuesday, as well as 1.1% higher than the previous maximum registered on October 7th (€288.53 /MWh).

After this increase, electricity will be 168% more expensive today than just a week ago (when it was traded at 108.73 euros/MWh on December 8th) and will be nearly five times the price set on the second Wednesday of December last year (49.34 euros/MWh).

Furthermore, the price of electricity will, for the first time, exceed 290 euros/MWh.

The 200 Euro/MWh barrier was reached on almost 70% of October days, 45% of November days and 13 of the first 15 days of December.

So far, the average electricity price this month is 221.10 euros/MWh, 14% higher than the average recorded in November (193.43 euros/MWh), and almost 10.5% higher than in October (200.06 euros/MWh), the most expensive month to date.

The price increases that affect a large part of Europe are due, among other factors, to the increase in the price of gas on international markets, which is used in combined cycle power plants and which sets the market price most of the time.

Across the rest of the European markets, the average price will be even higher than that of the Spanish market, in France it will reach 346.28 euros/MWh; in Italy, it will cost €309.68/MWh; in the UK it will also exceed €300/MWh (£263.33/MWh), and in Germany the figure will be €295.20/MWh.

Portugal and Spain share the same wholesale market and the average electricity price is the same between the two countries.