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The deregulation of the electricity markets in the European Union and the transformation caused by digital technologies and customer-centric strategies have altered the industry ecosystem, forcing companies to adapt to the new scenario. This research study aims to give a global overview of the digital transformation and channel integration of free-market electricity retailers in Spain from a consumer's perspective. The analysis includes all free-market electricity retailers that operate at the national scale, explores the level of digital transformation and channel integration of these companies based on a structured set of indicators, and measures them using the mystery shopper technique. The results show important differences between leading retailers and the rest of companies, evidence an important lag of the sector when compared to other retail markets and an overall lack of multichannel and omnichannel strategies, show a strong effort of retailers in online billing and self-service customer data management, and reveal shortcomings in the availability of communication channels with customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the application of sliced inverse regression to model the electrochemical process of aluminum smelter plants. Real data measurements obtained during several years in a Spanish industrial environment are used to illustrate the main dependencies between parameters. Nonlinear relations between the output variables and relevant linear combinations of input variables are deduced. An exploratory statistical analysis is also presented, checking for correlations and possible linear dependencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the authors analyse the social welfare impact of the integration of Portugal and Spain in the Iberian electricity market (MIBEL), taking into account the CO2 price for emissions trading. They model the impact of emissions trading on the daily clearing prices and generation scheduling, and its effects on the benefits of integration as a whole. They compare the impact of market integration in Portugal and Spain and show that the welfare impact of the MIBEL is dependent on the CO2 prices. From their analysis, they conclude high CO2 prices lead to a change in the merit order. Moreover, natural gas is the generation technology that most benefits from transmission constraints and from high CO2 prices, as in the base case it is mainly used as a peak technology. The authors have also found that increases in the CO2 prices do not lead to higher profits. Overall, the introduction of the MIBEL will increase social welfare by reducing generation costs and prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of renewable energy offers a decrease in external energy dependence; a boost to local and regional component manufacturing industries; promotion of regional engineering; increased R&D, decrease in impact of electricity production and transformation; increase in the level of services for the rural population; creation of employment, etc. To achieve these benefits, a series of actions are required, among which the following are particularly important: creation of a suitable climate for performing R&D; training of technicians in design, production, and maintenance of equipment; motivation for establishing a new market; proper financing; fostering of appropriate technologies; practical demonstration of results; etc. This article reviews the progress made in the Autonomous Community of Galicia in terms of the introduction of renewable energy technologies (RETs) and examines the possibility of meeting a target of 90% coverage (practical electrical self-sufficiency) by 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the imposition of value-added tax on the sale of electricity in Spain based on a directive of the European Union (EU). How the EU directive treats the sale of electricity; Requirements for operators entering markets and making cross-border supplies.