Pricele #80: Natural gas (100 kWh) in Spain 🇪🇸

Gas is the one energy price that still depends on geography, because moving it needs either a pipeline or a liquefaction plant at one end and a regasification terminal at the other. A country at the end of a pipe pays something close to the wellhead price; a country buying cargoes on the spot market pays whatever Asia and Europe are bidding that week. The 2022 European price shock, and the year of bills that followed it, was that distinction becoming visible.

Of the 31 countries priced for natural gas (100 kWh), Spain ranks #15 from the top at $10.10, 1.0× the median of $9.80.

Spain is cheaper than the northern eurozone across the board despite sharing the currency, which is a clean illustration of why a single exchange rate cannot equalise prices. Fresh produce is especially cheap, since Spain is one of Europe's main growers. Spanish VAT reinforces the pattern with an unusually generous food regime: 10% on food generally, but a super-reduced 4% on staples including bread, milk and eggs. Comparing Spain with Ireland or Portugal, which share the currency and charge 23% standard, is the most direct way this table shows what national tax policy does to prices inside a single monetary union.

See the full table for natural gas (100 kWh) in every country or everything priced in Spain.