Iberdrola to Acquire Contigo Energía’s Spanish Electricity Retail Arm

Iberdrola announced on 28 September 2026 that it has reached an agreement to acquire the Spanish electricity retail business of Contigo Energía, a portfolio of more than 100,000 customers. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, and Iberdrola did not disclose a purchase price or other financial terms in its announcement.

Contigo Energía will continue to operate independently within the Iberdrola Group, as Niba has done since its launch by Iberdrola in June 2025.

Iberdrola described the acquisition as another step in developing its retail business in Spain, with the stated aim of strengthening its leadership and acting as a driver of energy-system electrification on the demand side. The company said the transaction will enable the Group to further develop its strategy of offering innovative and differentiated commercial propositions to different consumer profiles, and it presented commercial growth as a lever to drive demand electrification and facilitate access to clean, secure and competitive energy.

The Acquired Retail Business

The perimeter Iberdrola described is Contigo Energía’s electricity retail business in Spain. Contigo Energía is the commercial brand under which Gesternova, S.A. and Gesternova Servicios Energéticos, S.A. operate, according to the legal notices on the company’s website. The company describes itself as a supplier of 100% renewable electricity and states that it has more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector, serving homes, businesses and producers.

Beyond household and business electricity tariffs, the company markets rooftop solar panel installation, electric-vehicle charger installation and aerotermia heating and cooling systems. Its website also lists a high-voltage tariff and a 3.0TD tariff for small and medium-sized companies with contracted power above 15 kW.

Niba’s Independent Operation

The structure described for Contigo Energía follows the model Iberdrola applied to Niba, which the group launched on 27 June 2025 as its first 100% digital corporate start-up and which it described as the first “neo-energy company” on the Spanish market. Niba began serving new customers in June 2025 with 100% green electricity plans, and Iberdrola said at the time that the start-up would add other value-added products and services to its commercial offering in the following months.

“niba was created as the first neo-energy company, with the aim of bringing energy closer to people, in the same way that neobanks transformed the financial experience,” said Mariola Martínez, the start-up’s managing director, in the launch announcement.

According to Iberdrola, Niba allows users to manage all their products from an app, without physical offices, and runs its own customer service model staffed by its own personnel, with technology developed from scratch. The company said Niba integrates artificial intelligence into processes including consumption analysis, savings recommendations, plan customisation and cost optimisation.

Iberdrola also said Niba would offer a freemium model, providing a package of features at no cost to users registered on the app, and that its commercial policy would not include exclusive promotions for new customers or counter-offers for customers who leave for other companies, instead offering the best price available at any given time both when signing up and when renewing contracts.

The Contigo Energía agreement follows an earlier Spanish electricity transaction announced in 2025. On 15 May 2025, Iberdrola signed an agreement to acquire the distribution, supply and energy generation operations of Electra del Maestrazgo, a family-run utility based in Castellón and operating in the provinces of Castellón and Teruel. Electra del Maestrazgo manages 1,350 km of medium- and low-voltage power lines, 21,000 supply points, 19,000 retail customers and 6.8 MW of installed capacity from photovoltaic and hydroelectric generation plants, assets Iberdrola said would be integrated into its operations.

That transaction was subject to approval by the CNMC (National Commission on Markets and Competition) before completion. Iberdrola said the deal aligned with its strategic plan’s stronger emphasis on the electricity networks business and that it had committed to investing more than €13 billion in networks between 2025 and 2026. The company also stated an aim of reaching €51 billion in regulated network assets by the end of 2025, up from €49 billion reported in the first quarter of that year.

Iberdrola’s announcement stated no timeline for completing the Contigo Energía acquisition beyond the customary closing conditions.