The aggressive offers of Repsol to gain market share in electricity and gas have allowed the oil company to gain 200,000 electricity and gas customers in the first quarter of the year, while its rivals have lost subscribers and other smaller ones such as Hello, Luz They are in a difficult economic situation. Repsol closed March with 2.3 million electricity and gas customers, compared to 2.1 million at the end of last year.
This means that Repsol consolidates itself as the energy company that wins the most clients and is positioned as the fourth energy company in the country, behind Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy.
Repsol has also increased its digital clients to 8.3 million at the end of March, compared to 7.9 million in December. The majority are customers with the application waylet . The oil company that presides Antoni Brufau started in January a new offer of discounts on fuel for customers who pay with waylet and contract electricity and gas with Repsol.
Thanks to these offers, Repsol is gaining customers in these markets compared to its major rivals. Iberdrola has gone from 10.54 million customers to 10.4 million, while in gas it has improved from 1.27 to 1.3 million. Endesa also gave in and closed the quarter at 10.48 million for electricity – compared to 10.52 million in December – and 1.82 million for gas, slightly below the end of 2023.
Repsol’s multi-service offering policy has led to a Competition investigation. In December, the National Competition Commission (CNMC) opened a sanctioning file against the oil company for possible anti-competitive practices, constituting an “abuse of a dominant position”, in the oil market. wholesale fuel distribution for automotive in Spain.
Repsol has rejected this file, which has left out Cepsa and BP that made similar discounts, and rejected that it had “a dominant position in the Spanish fuel market.” «Repsol has made an enormous effort to help its customers through discounts and thus face price increases derived from the war in Ukraine, with more than 500 million euros allocated to discounts at its service stations in Spain. In short, the CNMC has opened a sanctioning file for a measure aimed at favoring consumers,” defended the oil company.
Repsol maintains its electricity, gas and fuel offers and double discounts for waylet customers. The objective is to reach the four million customers of electricity and gas in 2027, consolidating itself as the energetic fourth from the country. Since April 2023, when it launched the first combined service offer, almost one million customers have joined the oil company.
In addition, Repsol has been adding new clients with purchases from other marketing companies, Viesgo in 2018, Gana in 2021 and CHC in 2023. Repsol’s preference is to grow organically, that is, snatching clients from its competitors.
To this end, Repsol plans invest up to 2,000 million euros in the period 2024-2027 in its Customer division, and increase its current market share 6%.
Meanwhile, rivals are gradually giving up positions and the smaller ones suffer from high electricity prices in the wholesale market. The problem with these companies, like Holaluz and others, born in the heat of self-consumption and renewable energy, is that since they are not electricity generators like the big ones in the sector, they suffer from rising prices in the pool electricity, price increases that later they cannot transfer completely to its clients to be competitive.
