PROPERTY SEARCH
PROPERTY SEARCH
ARCHIVED - Spain plans to tweak electricity decree to bring down costs
The President of Spain has vowed to make any changes necessary to ease the burden on domestic consumers
During a meeting of ministers on Wednesday October 13, the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, was asked by officials to “tweak and reorient” his new decree on electricity so that companies and private consumers aren’t hit so hard by the staggering rise in prices. Tomorrow, the average price of energy is set to increase by 16% and hit 215.63 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) on the wholesale market, the seventh time the cost has risen above 200 euros this month.
Aitor Esteban, a spokesperson for the Basque Nationalist Party, appealed to the President to act now to avoid allowing energy costs for companies to rise so high that they impact employment, forcing more staff onto ERTE. Already this month, one of Spain’s largest steel manufacturers has been compelled to reduce its working days due to the exorbitant prices.
The President’s decree, which will be put to a debate on Thursday, proposes a number of tax cuts and suspensions that aim at lowering the average household bill ahead of a winter that will see the cost of gas rise exponentially too. To this end, Mr Sánchez has agreed to “clarify and specify” what is needed to ensure that the inflation is not passed on to companies or domestic consumers.
The President also came under fire for not doing enough to tackle the gas prices, with Mr Esteban calling for further investments in gas infrastructures such as back-up energy and additional transportation and storage. The leader of the opposition, Pablo Casado, took things a step further by accusing the President of breaking all his promises, something which he said was demonstrated by the masses when Mr Sánchez was publicly booed at the National Day military parade.
The average price of electricity will shoot up on Thursday to six times higher than the cost registered on October 14, 2020, when it stood at just 36.74 euros per MWh.
Image: Archive
Contact Spanish News Today: Editorial 966 260 896 /
Office 968 018 268
