The executive this Friday approves the limit for gas, which must again pass through Brussels so that it can guarantee its final application in a few weeks
The more than 10 million customers of the regulated market (PVPC) will certainly not notice the effects of the gas price cap on their electricity bills until mid-June. And as long as the government exceeds all the deadlines it has planned to implement the “Iberian exceptionalism” with which Spain and Portugal will pay the price of this commodity on the world market, to ensure that daily electricity costs fall moderately.
In order for these households to be able to verify the effects of the measure, a number of conditions must be met: first, that the Commission approves the decree that formalizes this gas limitation; then that Brussels again receives the regulatory text approved by Spain and, where appropriate, Portugal; and from there the ‘pool’ begins to reflect this new reality. The orevusuibes point out that if the gas is limited to 50 euros/MWh (it traded at double this Tuesday), the daily price of electricity will fall to 140 euros/MWh. And the average monthly receipt, up to 35%.
The billing cycles of the electricity companies that expire in the coming days will not be able to collect the measure. They do this to those who are billed for electricity one month after the start of the restriction. In any case, mid-June, although in many cases it will be a practical reality in the receipts issued at the end of that month or early July.
In fact, they will hardly be able to collect the foreseeable moderation in electricity prices and it will not be until next month when the first effects of the measure will be noticed, although the executive hoped that the text would be ready at the start of May, a circumstance that in the end has not been possible.
In this way, users of the regulated market (more than 1.2 million households switched from the PVPC rate to one of the free ones by 2021, according to the CNMC) will practically accumulate a year of sky-high bills.
Initially, it will be this Friday, May 13, when the government approves the limit on the price of gas on the wholesale market, within the package of the “Iberian exceptionalism” agreed with Portugal, and from which both countries received preliminary approval this Tuesday for their respective draft normative decrees.
In the case of Spain, the executive will convene an extraordinary council of ministers for three days, after this Tuesday it was technically impossible to take the measure in the order of the day. This is clarified by sources from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, where they recall the complexity of the standard that they do not want to leave loose ends.
As soon as the decree is published in the BOE, the document will return to the European Commission, so that it will give the final green light this time, if it meets the terms and conditions required by Brussels from Spain and Portugal. In the community capital, they hope to be able to pronounce on the decree “in one or two weeks”, European sources report. The vice president herself, Teresa Ribera, said in the Senate on Tuesday that he hopes that “in a few days or a few weeks” the “exception” will be “fully operational”.
The Commission has not yet taken a final decision. And you can object to changes if the regulations approved by Spain do not comply with what has been agreed in recent weeks. Brussels will examine each decree – the Spanish and the Portuguese – separately to make the process more transparent.
On Monday, the European Commission approved the proposal submitted by Spain and Portugal after difficult negotiations between the two countries, before submitting the final text to Brussels last Friday, adapted to Community law and also to the requirements of the rest of the European partners. One of the details that are not yet known is the financing of the measure. From Ecological Transition, they choose to “share the cost”, meaning that the free market rates are increased when they are renewed.
The limitation of light has cost many negotiations between EU member states, especially until the last European Council in late March, in which Spain and Portugal fought to apply their ‘Iberian exceptionalism’, arguing that they could limit the price of gas , without implying a distortion of the Community energy market, as the connections of the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of the continent are minimal, barely 3%.
In this process, the electricity companies are opposed to applying this measure as the formula to stop the explosion of the electricity price, especially after the invasion of Ukraine, as it will lead to a market disruption, delay the signing of long-term contracts term, keys for the sector.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
