MIBEL

The Iberian Electricity Market (MIBEL) is a joint initiative of the Portuguese and Spanish government with a view to the construction of a regional electricity market.

With MIBEL coming into force, every consumer in the Iberian Peninsula was able to obtain electricity, under free competition, from any producer or seller operating in both Portugal and Spain.

The following are the key objectives of MIBEL:

  • Benefit the electricity consumers of both countries through the integration of their electrical systems;
  • Structure the operation of the market based on the principles of transparency, free competition, objectivity, liquidity, self-financing and self-organisation;
  • Promote the development of the electricity market of both countries based on a single, integrated methodology for defining reference prices for the entire Iberian Peninsula;
  • Allow all participants free access to the market, under equal rights and obligations, transparency and objectivity;
  • Promote the economic efficiency of companies in the electricity sector, fostering free competition between them.

The process to converge the Portuguese and Spanish electricity systems was formally initiated with the signing of the "Collaboration Protocol between the Spanish and Portuguese Administrations for the establishment of the Iberian Electricity Market", in November 2001. In this document, both countries laid down the bases for the collaboration between the various entities with responsibilities in the sector – administrations, regulators and operators – with a view to streamlining the conditions for the participation of economic operators in Mibel.

This process ended with the conclusion of the Agreement between the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Spain for the establishment of an Iberian Electrical Energy Market, the basic principles of which are transparency, free competition, objectivity, liquidity, self-financing and self-organisation of markets.