The liberalized natural gas market registered about 1.1 million customers in June, a 15.5% loss in numbers compared to the same month of 2022, according to information from the regulator released today.
“This month, ML registered about 1.1 million customers, for an estimated annual consumption of 30,965 [gigawatt-hora]. These values represent a 15.5% reduction in customers and a 15.7% decrease in consumption compared to June 2022,” said the June Liberalized Natural Gas Market Bulletin, published today by the Entidade Energy Services Regulator. (ERS).
In October last year, the measure came into effect allowing customers to return to the regulated natural gas market to cope with the high price increases announced by suppliers.
In the month under review, 16,352 customers entered the liberalized gas market, of which 941 (0.5 GWh) from the regulated market and 15,411 (43.5 GWh) directly into the portfolios of providers under the market regime (direct entries).
In contrast, 14,819 customers (47.7 GWh) terminated their contract on the liberalized market without having signed another supply contract (direct departures), while 3,412 customers returned to the regulated market.
For example, the number of active customers on the free market decreased net by 1,879 customers and by 4.6 GWh of consumption.
In June, the free market accounted for about 72% of total customers and about 96% of consumption in mainland Portugal, “with discounts of 13.7 pp [pontos percentuais] respectively 1.6 pp against the value of the same month”.
The number of customers in the regulated market showed “a strong growth, of 96.7% compared to the same month”, while consumption increased by 28.9% compared to the same period last year.
EDP Comercial still accounted for nearly half of over-the-counter customers (43.9%) in June, down 0.1 percentage points from May.
Galp and Endesa maintained their market share at 21.2% and 12.5% respectively, while Goldenergy increased by 0.1 percentage point to 17.3%.
In terms of consumption, Galp maintained its position as the leading free market operator, with nearly half of global consumption, up 0.1 percentage point from May.
Naturgy and Endesa, which rank second and third in terms of market share in consumption, recorded increases of 0.2 pp and decreases of 0.5 pp respectively.
Source: DN
