# Spanish time-of-use periods

> The Fixed (Spain, time-of-use) contract type: the six tariff periods, the seasons, the public holidays and the injection price.

Source: https://voltmasters.io/en/docs/voltmasters-platform/project-settings/energy-contracts/spain-time-of-use/

In Spain, fixed tariffs are not a single price. Under CNMC Circular 3/2020 (Iberian Peninsula), every quarter-hour is classified into one of six **tariff periods**, from **P1** (most expensive) to **P6** (cheapest), and each period has its own price. This contract type lets you enter one fixed price per period; the platform automatically applies the correct period to each quarter-hour based on the date and time.

> **Note**
>
> This contract type only appears in the dropdown for projects whose country is set to Spain.

You enter **six prices** (€/MWh), one per period P1–P6. The period that applies to a given quarter-hour depends on three factors, evaluated in Spanish local time (Europe/Madrid):

**1\. Day type**

-   **Weekends and national holidays** → the whole day is **P6**.
-   **Working days** → the period depends on the season and the hour (below).

**2\. Time block (working days)**

| Block | Hours | Result |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Peak** | 09:00–14:00 and 18:00–22:00 | Peak period for the season |
| **Shoulder** | 08:00–09:00, 14:00–18:00 and 22:00–24:00 | Shoulder period for the season |
| **Valley** | 00:00–08:00 | Always **P6** |

**3\. Season (by month)**

| Season | Months | Peak block → | Shoulder block → |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| High | January, February, July, December | **P1** | **P2** |
| Medium-high | March, November | **P2** | **P3** |
| Medium | June, August, September | **P3** | **P4** |
| Low | April, May, October | **P4** | **P5** |

In practice this means a working day uses **three** prices, the night/valley (P6) plus the season's peak and shoulder period, while a weekend or national holiday uses a **single** price (P6).

The national holidays that count as all-day P6 are the fixed-date Spanish electrical holidays:

| Date | Holiday |
| --- | --- |
| 1 January | New Year's Day |
| 6 January | Epiphany |
| 1 May | Labour Day |
| 15 August | Assumption |
| 12 October | National Day |
| 1 November | All Saints' Day |
| 6 December | Constitution Day |
| 8 December | Immaculate Conception |
| 25 December | Christmas Day |

> **Warning**
>
> Movable feasts without a fixed calendar date (Good Friday, Holy Thursday, etc.) and regional/local holidays are **not** treated as P6, they follow the normal working-day rules, in line with the CNMC fixed-date definition.

**Injection.** Under these Spanish contracts, energy is not sold back to the grid, so the **injection price is always 0**.

> **Note**
>
> The underlying spot data for Spain is sourced from the ENTSO-E transparency platform (the Spanish bidding zone), which reflects the same day-ahead market outcome as OMIE. For a *fixed time-of-use* contract the spot price is not used for pricing, only the tariff period of each quarter-hour matters.