[en] The true liberalization of the electricity and gas retail markets in Spain was initiated in 1997 and 1998 respectively with the approval of the Electricity Act and the Hydrocarbons Act that set up the regulatory framework for both sectors. The initial eligibility calendars established were speeded up by later legal dispositions which set the full eligibility in January 2003. Therefore in January the number of eligible consumers increased from 65,000 electricity consumers to 22 million and from around 5,000 gas consumers to 4.5 million. In Spain there has been however a coexistence of a liberalized market and a regulated market. While in the liberalized market the consumer will pay a regulated Third Party Access (TPA) tariff for the use of the network and a free price for the energy, in the regulated market the consumer will pay all-inclusive tariffs which are established by the Government in the case of the electricity tariffs and by the Ministry of Economy in the case of the gas tariffs. Today any electricity and gas consumer can choose whether he wants to be supplied through the regulated market or through the liberalized one. Only the electricity HV (High Voltage Supply) all-inclusive tariffs are to disappear in 2007. No date has been set for the others. Also important is to highlight the increase in the consumption of both energy sources. The electricity demand has increased about 38 percent from 1997 (155 TWh/year) to 2002 (214 TWh/year). The gas sector, on the other hand, has increased at a higher rate. From 150 TWh/year in January 1999 to almost 270 TWh/year in July 2003, an 80 percent increase in four and a half years.(author)