Since January, Economy insists on the need to calculate the CPI with all receipts, a process that the statistic has not been able to complete
The president, who will be appointed head of the INE (National Statistical Institute) by the Ministry of Economy in a few weeks, will face one of the most significant data changes that the executive has sought to promote with his successor, although he ultimately not It has been possible: to include free electricity tariffs in the calculation of the CPI (Consumer Price Index) to update the data; adapt to reality; or, actually, to beat inflation records.
The abrupt departure of Juan Rodríguez Poo from the statistics, for “personal reasons”, although after several months of disagreements with the department headed by Nadia Calviño, will result in a new position that will have its two major challenges in the CPI and the GDP.
Monthly inflation data published by the INE still does not reflect much of the price millions of consumers pay for electricity. And since electricity is the product that pushes the shopping cart the most, the agency has been working for months on the formula to include all electricity contracts in the official IPC register.
It is not technically easy, as the institution has always acknowledged. So much so that the INE wanted to include these free-market contracts in its official inflation data last January. And six months later still not. Then “it was not possible”, Statistic sources indicate.
The question is not trivial. By not including free contracts, some of the prices are not included in the administration. Until now, the INE only took into account the price paid by users of the regulated market (about 10 million in all of Spain) by tracking the exact costs they pay for electricity, ie the euros per kWh. A figure that has not yet been achieved for free contracts, because it depends on the information provided by each company.
Vice President Calviño himself believes that this situation translates into “a rapid transmission of inflation”. Every euro that raises the kWh of the regulated tariff (PVPC) immediately increases the IPC. It presupposes “a consideration” of a particular rate, according to Calviño.
In order to include this mass of contracts (they exceed 16 million in all of Spain), it is necessary that the electricity companies provide their data. And since Calviño has not yet done so, he has taken an opportunity this past month to call for the responsibility of companies, especially energy companies, so that they “put their shoulders to the wheel”, lower the price of electricity and increase the INE with the data requested from them to put an end to the overweighting of the gas price in the CPI so that it can faithfully reflect the price of electricity.
In fact, at the time, the arrow launched by Calviño had a receiver, Iberdrola. After months of working to get this detail, he said that “there is a company that has not provided the data and we need everyone to help lower the price of fuel so that the price of energy in the market is the wholesaler.” and so that the CPI accurately reflects real prices”.
The inclusion of free tariffs need not imply a drastic reduction in inflation, especially in a context of rising energy prices. Although it can partially support the CPI data.
Given the complexity of the data, the companies came to ask for an extension of the allotted timeframe and hope that the information will be available to the INE as soon as possible. But that day has not yet come. Electric utilities have been proposing for more than two years to break down the CPI, taking into account fixed price contracts and not just the regulated rate.
The free electricity contracts are characterized by the stability in the prices that the companies charge for their customers, although this varies from case to case. Its validity is usually a year ahead, compared to the variation of the regulated one.
Source: La Verdad
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