There are everyday expenses that seem harmless. You come home from work, you prepare dinner and while the sauce is bubbling, you start the washing machine. But that click, repeated by millions of Spaniards between eight and nine at night, becomes a true national electrical traffic jam. And without knowing it, also a hole in your pocket.
Nil is an energy expert and explains that “the worst time to put on the washing machine is the most popular and the one that makes you lose the most money each month.” It sounds obvious, but it’s not. The data from Red Eléctrica de España (REE) for this month of February confirm the diagnosis: the critical hour is between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., with an average price of 0.2591 euros/kWh.
Meanwhile, at dawn, between 04:00 and 05:00, the cost falls to 0.071 euros/kWh. In other words, the same laundry can cost you almost four times as much depending on when you press the start button.
Nil calls this the ‘funnel effect’: we all do the same thing at the same time. “The most common thing is to do it in the morning, and this is the worst thing you can do if you want to pay less at the end of the month,” he says through his social networks. According to his calculation, the period that punishes the pocket the most is from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. These are peak times in which the system suffers, and the user pays.
And the figures don’t lie. An average household consumes between 214 and 290 euros/kWh per month, but those who concentrate their consumption during those hours of maximum demand may end up paying between 30% and 40% more on the bill. It is money that literally evaporates without getting anything in return, just due to lack of information or day-to-day inertia.
“You are going to save a lot, a lot of money”
It’s not just about discipline or that people don’t want to save, but, according to experts, it’s the work schedule and routines that make it difficult. In a Spain where 31% of employed people are already over 50 years old and young people face unemployment of more than 25%, flexible hours continue to be a luxury.
Added to this is that many live in rental apartments with old appliances, energy class C or D, which aggravate consumption.
That is why Nil confesses that “if you can avoid using those time slots, you will save a lot, a lot of money.”
The truth is that since 2024, the regulated rate (PVPC) changed its structure: 55% of the price is now based on more stable futures contracts, but the remaining 45% continues to depend on the daily market, the one that rises like foam when the sunset arrives.
That is why to save, it is not about making radical gestures: it is enough to program the appliances at key times and take advantage of the hours of sunshine or early morning. According to calculations, this way you can stop giving away between 150 and 300 euros per year.