ERSE publishes Electricity and Gas Retail Markets Report - 2022
28/11/2023
ERSE - the Energy Services Regulatory Authority - has published its status report on the Electricity and Gas Retail Markets for 2022, analysing issues such as the dynamics of competition, the profile of commercial offers and consumer protection.
This document shows that at the end of last year the liberalised electricity market had an all-time high of 5.5 million customers. The liberalised gas market had just under 1.2 million customers. Despite this high level, 100,000 customers switched to the supplier of last resort for electricity and 154,000 for gas.
The liberalised electricity and gas markets accounted for 93% and 98% of total consumption and 85% and 76% of total customers respectively. The remainder represents the share of the regulated market of last resort.
In 2022, compared to 2021, there was a decrease in market concentration - and thus a higher intensity of competition - in both electricity and gas. EDP continued the trend of losing customers observed in recent years, holding 75% of customers on the liberalised market for electricity and 46% for gas at the end of 2022. In terms of consumption, the largest suppliers also lost market share. EDP accounted for 41% of electricity consumption and GALP for 50% of gas consumption, a decrease of 4 p.p. compared to the previous year.
The number of commercial offers on the electricity and gas market in 2022 totalled 775, of which 126 were dual offers. GALP was the supplier with the largest number of offers, around 150.
In 2022, as in previous years, it was observed that the practice of loyalty conditions is a minority in the context of the electricity and natural gas markets, applying to 13% of the offers and 74% of these containing penalties. When a penalty was applied, it was less than 25% of the monthly bill in almost half of the cases.
Regarding the origin of the energy consumed, and despite the growing role of so-called “green” offers, it was observed that in 2022 about half of the suppliers have a less “green” electricity supply than the market average.
Complaints and requests for information to ERSE’s Customer Service Office also stand out, with a decrease of around 21% to almost 28 thousand.
As for the social tariff, in 2022 it covered 804 thousand beneficiaries for electricity and 52 thousand for natural gas.
