The Ministry of Industry has submitted a proposal to the National Energy Commission to revise electricity tariffs as from January 2009.
The proposal will affect in the region of 25 million domestic users and provides for an increase of €1.1 per month for the domestic consumer environment. This represents a rise of 3.5% for the average household (2.0.x).
The average increase for low-voltage, which includes 3.0.1 and 3.0.2, will be €4.2 per month. The proposal also includes a revision of tolls and fees for consumers who obtain their electricity supply through the free market.
The Government will have to approve the proposal and if they do, a Ministerial order will be posted in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE) before the end of the year.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Pedro Solbes believes that the increase is ‘fair and reasonable’, despite being above the CPI. Solbes believes that it should not be the CPI which is used as the basic criteria for determining electricity tariffs but the production costs, and these have been affected by high oil prices in recent years and have resulted in a discrepancy between the cost of production and the price of electricity.