Energy burden in a time of crisis: analysing the evolution of electricity bills in Spanish households

Abstract

The current global energy price crisis has caused unprecedented increases in electricity and gas bills. To contrast this rise, the Spanish government implemented several ‘emergency measures’ to protect energy consumers.This paper theoretically estimates the 2022 evolution of electricity bills in Spanish households, with a special focus on vulnerable ones, thus simulating alternative scenarios to evaluate both the impact of the energy prices’ rise and the positive effect of the national emergency measures.The results show that these policies significantly reduced regulated market consumers’ bills, the vulnerable ones being the most protected by them.