Survey reveals disparity in energy sales in Americas vs Europe

This is a machine translation of the original release, issued in Spanish.

PRESS RELEASE from Acen
October 2024

Chile has the third highest percentage of consumption contracted on the free market with 60.5%, only surpassed by Spain (100%) and Portugal (95%). In fact, in Spain “all electricity consumers can access the free market through a marketer or directly,” said Sebastián Novoa, president of ACEN, in the online presentation of the “First survey on the free energy market in Ibero-American countries.”

The study systematized the data from a survey on practices, challenges and advances in electricity markets in which associations from member countries of the Ibero-American Energy Marketing Association ( AICE ) participated: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Portugal and Uruguay, and was presented at an event organized by Abraceel, an AICE partner.

The survey revealed a very marked disparity between the reality in America and the Iberian Peninsula. For example, Portugal took 11 years to fully open the market and since 2006, all consumers can choose their electricity supplier. On the other hand, although Chile was the first country to open the market in 1982, there is still a power limit of over 500 kW to access the free market.

Colombia, like Portugal and Spain, allows all consumers to freely choose their energy supplier, and can also opt for regulated prices. Paradoxically, in Uruguay the rules for accessing the free market became stricter in 2023, raising the power threshold from 250 kW to 1,500 kW, causing a reduction in the universe of potential consumers from 470 to less than 100. “Despite the fact that the free market was initiated by law in 1997, it was not until 2023 that the first free contract between private parties was materialized in that country,” said Novoa.

He added that it is interesting to observe the evolution of prices in this comparison by country. For example, Brazil has the largest price reduction in the free market, compared to the regulated market, which amounts to 49%. Behind it is Chile with 27%, followed by Mexico with 12.5%.

In another area, Colombia, Spain, Mexico and Portugal have models of pricing by offer and all countries, to date, have hourly prices and an average contract duration of 4 to 5 years.

In Mexico, the demand from qualified users represents 25% of the country's total demand, which corresponds to 1,200 unregulated users out of a potential of 5,000 estimated. In that country, there is a universe of 48.2 million total users. Meanwhile, with a free market that stands at over 40%, the current government in Brazil is studying measures for the total opening of the market, while in Mexico there are currently no intentions to review the issue.

In Colombia, Chile and Uruguay, there are also discussions about increasing access to the free market . In the latter country, attempts have been made for years to enforce some of the regulations that were never implemented. In Ecuador, there are no discussions about opening up the electricity market.

Relive the presentation of the study on our YouTube channel