The rise in fuel prices caused by the war in the Middle East sent the cost of living soaring in Catalonia and Spain in March, the first month with the war's effects, according to consumer price index (CPI, the indicator that measures the cost of living for families) data published this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

Politics shouldn't be all about pronouncements and grand gestures. Pragmatism is also essential. In short, it's about being practical so that citizens, those governed, feel they aren't being abandoned when times get tough. And this seems to be the path the Spanish government has taken with the package of measures designed to mitigate the effects of the war in the Middle East. The conflict, whose end appears far off, has driven up gas and oil prices and, consequently, the prices of everything related to them, such as fuel and electricity. That's why the measures announced by Pedro Sánchez will amount to around 5 billion euros, far less than the more than 20 billion mobilized in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine—but we are still in the early stages and don't know how long the war might last. The first decree focuses on reducing energy taxes, one of the services most affected by the impact of the Middle East crisis, and one that could have ripple effects throughout the economy. In addition to lowering the VAT on electricity and gas from the current 21% to 10%, as well as on biomass raw materials such as pellets and firewood, the energy production tax, currently at 7%, is temporarily eliminated and reduced from 5.5% to a special rate of 0.5%. Maximum retail prices for butane and propane are also frozen. The VAT on gasoline and diesel is also reduced, which, according to the Prime Minister's office, will result in a savings of approximately 30 cents per liter when filling up. Consumer organizations estimate that the reduction will be around 17 cents for diesel, which has seen the largest price increase. A key point, also included in the decree, is granting the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) new supervisory and sanctioning powers to prevent operators from exploiting the tax cut to increase their profit margins and enrich themselves. This is essential to prevent the tax reduction from benefiting certain companies more than citizens and, therefore, taxpayers.

The US and Israeli attacks on Iran are already impacting people's wallets. The situation will worsen the longer the conflict lasts and the longer it takes to resolve the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas passes. "Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow, but we do know that the risk is very high," says Javier Díaz-Giménez, a professor at IESE Business School. The problem is that we are in a context of uncertainty and volatility, adds Pedro Aznar, an economics professor at ESADE Business School.

The Basque Country, Catalonia, and the Valencian Community are the three regions with the lowest proportion of renewable energy generation relative to their total electricity production, according to data published Wednesday by Red Eléctrica de España, the state-owned company that operates the Spanish electricity system. Specifically, in the Basque Country, only 17% of the energy generated is from renewable sources; in Catalonia, it's 18%; and in the Valencian Community, it's 20%. At the other end of the spectrum are Castile and León, with 94% of its generation from renewable sources; Aragon, with 83%; Galicia, with 82%; and Castile-La Mancha, with 69%. These figures, however, must be put into context. For example, in the Community of Madrid, 50% of its generation is renewable, yet it is a region that produces very little energy overall. Thus, Madrid's renewable energy production is 625 GWh, while Catalonia's is 6,935 GWh.

The Spanish government does not believe there is a saturation problem in the high-voltage electricity transmission network, which is managed by Red Eléctrica, but rather an "undue monopolization" of connection requests, according to sources within the Spanish executive branch. This Friday, Red Eléctrica (REE) published its capacity maps, which indicate that there is 25% network connection availability. According to the company, which belongs to the Redeia group, the transmission network currently has capacity for new demand at 25% of its nodes, which can be granted either through the general priority criteria or via a tender process. Red Eléctrica has indicated that access and connection permits have been granted on the transmission network alone for 129 gigawatts (GW) of wind and photovoltaic installations, 16 GW of storage installations, and 19 GW of demand-side installations.

The Spanish government wants to exclude large families with high incomes from the social electricity tariff. This is outlined in the Spanish strategy against energy poverty 2026-2030, which the Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday, according to ministry sources. This strategy aims to work with stakeholders in the sector to ensure that families entitled to this discount on their electricity bills receive it, while also changing the current situation in which many high-income households receive it. The strategy will stipulate that the conditions and criteria for the social electricity tariff include a link to household income, to ensure "that it reaches those who need it most," according to the ministry. However, to implement this reform, the Spanish government will have to amend a royal decree and establish the income criterion specifically for large families. Currently, families with large family status can access the electricity social bonus regardless of their income level (income is only taken into account in the case of large families recognized as severely vulnerable, thus receiving greater assistance), as is the case with other social policies that offer discounts for holding this status. Who receives this bonus?

The electricity social voucher grants discounts on electricity bills to low-income consumers who have a regulated electricity tariff, known as PVPC. Depending on the consumer's vulnerability, the discounts range from 42.5% for vulnerable profiles to 57.5% for severely vulnerable consumers. In addition, families benefiting from this electricity social voucher also receive the thermal social voucher, a direct annual payment that depends on the climate zone and ranges from €25 to €400. According to data from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, coverage of the social voucher has grown by 60% between 2018 and 2025, increasing from 1.07 million households to 1.72 million. The new strategy against energy poverty has four pillars. The first is the creation of an energy poverty observatory to centralize and maintain information on the subject and to exchange knowledge among experts. The second pillar, aimed at consumer protection, has four measures: guaranteeing supply to vulnerable and electro-dependent individuals; improving coverage of the social tariff, which has grown by 60% since 2018, from 1.07 million households to 1.72 million currently; facilitating access to the social tariff by eliminating commercial practices such as penalties for early termination for consumers who switch to the regulated tariff (PVPC) with a social tariff; and requiring written confirmation when a consumer with a PVPC and social tariff wishes to leave the system.

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The responsibility for the massive blackout of April 28th of last year remains unclear, but the major electricity companies have consistently pointed the finger at the Spanish electricity system operator, Red Eléctrica, and they reiterated this point on Thursday. During their appearance before the Senate committee investigating the events, the CEOs of Endesa and Iberdrola, José Bogas and Mario Ruiz-Tagle, respectively, again identified the system operator as solely responsible for the blackout that left the entire Iberian Peninsula without power. "It did not act with sufficient agility in forecasting, scheduling, or correcting the errors," stated Bogas of Endesa. Ruiz-Tagle, the Iberdrola executive, ruled out a "multifactorial" cause for the blackout and pointed to a "single" reason: "A planning error in the elements for controlling the voltage," he said, implicitly referring to Red Eléctrica (REE).

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Wind and solar energy generated more electricity than fossil fuels in the European Union (EU) for the first time in 2025. Together, these two energy sources reached a record 30% of electricity generation in the EU, compared to fossil fuels, which accounted for 29%. European Electricity Review, of thethink tankBritish Ember, which offers a comprehensive overview of the electrical system in Europe.

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The electricity system has lost nearly 2.8 gigawatts (GW) of available capacity in just two months – between October and November 2025 – leaving much of the country without the technical capacity for new projects, according to an analysis by Forum Industria y Energía (FIE) and Opina 360 from the electricity sector, which puts the saturation level at 85.7%. Specifically, the study, using data from December 1st, has expanded its scope to include 6,108 substations belonging to the 29 largest distributors in the country, which account for 97% of supply points. According to the data, the estimated saturation rate has risen from 82.4% to 85.7%, meaning that 5,235 substations no longer have available capacity. In terms of power, the drop is also significant, falling from over 10 GW available in October to 7,363.2 MW, a loss of approximately 2.8 GW of available capacity in two months. This confirms that the demand for electrification and new industrial projects is consuming capacity. Thus, the Industry and Energy Forum and Opina 360 point to a scenario of increasing stress on grid access, where the margin for maneuver is narrowing and connection capacity is becoming an increasingly decisive factor for industrial planning.

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Endesa Energía has acknowledged unauthorized access to its sales platform, resulting in the theft of customer data related to their contracts, including identity documents and payment information. A malicious actor bypassed the security measures implemented by the company on its sales platform in a recent security incident, and the company has already begun notifying affected users via email. This incident, described by the company as "unauthorized and illegitimate access," led to the theft of sensitive personal data from customers related to their electricity and gas contracts. According to the company's investigation, the malicious actor "had access and could have exfiltrated" contact information, identity documents, and bank account IBANs. Endesa Energía clarifies that access passwords were not compromised.

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More than 90% of the phone numbers used to call potential customers on behalf of Endesa are suspected of fraud. This is according to a search tool launched by the energy company to provide consumers with tools to avoid telephone fraud.

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The last decades of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th were a time when electrification became fashionable. The realization that the Pyrenean waterfalls could be a source of energy forever changed both the landscape and the country's business ecosystem. Some key figures in this process were Carles Montañès Criquillion, Frederick S. Pearson, and Emili Riu Periquet, among others. But less well-known today, yet with the same entrepreneurial spirit as the others, was the engineer Lluís Rouvière Bula, who not only dedicated himself to electricity but also designed highly significant railway projects.

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Decarbonizing strategic sectors, promoting self-consumption, and reducing energy dependence on foreign sources. These are three of the major challenges facing Catalonia's energy system, but also three crucial opportunities to completely rethink it. To address these challenges and move towards a cleaner, more efficient, and more sovereign model, there is a key element: the electrification of demand. This was the starting point for the third edition of the ARA-CEEC Conversations, a conference co-organized by the newspaper ARA and the Catalan Energy Efficiency Cluster (CEEC), with the collaboration of Estabanell, which brought together experts, institutions, and companies to analyze how to transform the country's energy consumption in a sustainable way.

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Endesa and Naturgy expect to close 2025 with record profits, or at least that's what both companies hinted at this Wednesday, coinciding with the presentation of their results for the first nine months of the year, that is, between January and September. Specifically, both the electricity and gas companies are on track to reach their target of €2 billion this year, thus avoiding the shock of the massive power outage on April 28th that left the Iberian Peninsula in darkness for hours. Endesa earned €1.711 billion between January and September of this year, 22% more than in the same period last year, as the company reported this Wednesday to the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). This result almost matches the profit for all of 2024, when it posted a gain of €1.888 billion.

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Last September, the Spanish electricity system operator, Red Eléctrica, recorded "sudden voltage fluctuations" in the electricity grid and asked the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) to approve a series of regulatory changes to strengthen the electricity system in the face of the possibility that these problems could impact the security of supply. However, Red Eléctrica assured that the anomalies recorded in September did not imply a risk of a massive power outage like the one on April 28, a statement echoed by the Association of Electric Power Companies (Aelec), the employers' association that brings together Iberdrola, Endesa, and EDP.

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Since the massive blackout on April 28, which left the entire Iberian Peninsula without electricity, the system operator, Red Eléctrica, has been operating in "boost mode." This mode consists, broadly speaking, of more than twenty combined cycle (gas-fired) plants remaining on idle. They do not generate electricity, but are available to be activated at any time, especially if demand soars and renewables cannot meet it, or if, once again, technical problems are detected in the system.

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Iberdrola will take legal action against the president of Red Eléctrica España (REE), Beatriz Corredor, after she attributed the massive power outage of April 28 to the non-compliance of conventional groups. This was confirmed to Efe by legal sources and reported on Monday by the newspaper The World, the electricity company maintains that Corredor's statements on September 11 constitute an "attack on its honor," although the president of the Spanish electricity system operator did not mention the company at any time.

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Enric Brazís Caubet (Palma, 1969), an industrial engineer with a specialization in ESADE, is the director of Endesa in Catalonia, the region's leading electricity company in both generation and distribution and marketing. The distribution network, specifically, is in the spotlight, both due to the massive blackout on April 28th and user complaints about access.

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The path to replacing a portion of the industry with the fossil fuels it currently uses fully involves electrification, or at least that's the State's commitment. However, this requires that the infrastructure that enables the consumption of electricity be prepared for this change, but also for the arrival of new industrial activities that will push up electricity demand. That's why the proposed electricity grid planning for 2026-2030, with an investment of €13.6 billion (a breakdown by region has not yet been established), will be key. This Thursday, the Ministry for Ecological Transition put the document up for public hearing, and it will remain there until December 16. The Catalan Government will initially present its observations, according to sources within the Catalan government.

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Industry has become the major driver of electricity consumption in Catalonia, clearly leading the way in electricity spending in Spain. And within this electricity consumption, the province of Barcelona stands out particularly, according to data published by the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), compiled by Papernest, a company specializing in supply consulting and management. In fact, industry sources point out that the increase in industrial electricity consumption is primarily due to economic growth—Catalan GDP has grown above the Spanish average since the fourth quarter of 2023—and, above all, the European average, as the economic weakness of Germany and France has slowed EU growth.

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