Spain and Portugal have reached a new agreement with the European Union to achieve a electricity price reduction, by limiting the price of gas and coal used to generate electricity. Thus, the figure proposed by Brussels as limit is 50 euros per megawatt hour.
A proposal that, according to reports ‘The country‘, will benefit 40% of Spanish consumers and that they have a regulated rate. The agreement has been announced by the Third Vice President and Minister for the Ecological Transition, Theresa Riveraafter a meeting with her counterpart in Europe, Margrethe Vestager, and what comes after achievement of the category of “energy island” by the governments of Pedro Sánchez and Antonio Costa.
The exceptional mechanism adopted in the agreement will have a validity of 12 months. Ribera explained the changes that will take place with the entry into force of this new agreement. “On balance, this is a positive deal for consumers. It will reduce the volatility of electricity pricesand will protect consumers and the industry next winter”. In this way, the initial price will be €40/MWh, and then it will rise to €50.
The achievement of said label took place in the last meeting held by the 27 heads of state in the European Commission. The conflict in Ukraine and the increase in gas prices, especially Russianforced the European Union to explore new alternatives for the supply of hydrocarbons, as well as to meet to adopt measures with the aim of controlling the rise in energy prices.
Part of the countries that make up the European Union, with Germany at the head, were dependent on the gas provided by Moscow. In the case of Berlin, before the war, the volume of Russian gas imports over the total was 56%. With the start of the Russian military offensive, it fell to 44%. However, countries like Spain, whose dependence on Russian gas was less, was showing the upward trend in prices.
Spain, with an interconnection below 3%
At the end of March, Sánchez and Costa secured the possibility that both Executives acted on their own behalf when adopting measures to control electricity prices, although the rest of the countries of the old continent do not intervene. In fact, Spain has a minimum interconnection in relation to energy market of the rest of the continent, below 3%.
A peculiarity defended by the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezwith the aim of reaching an agreement with the rest of the countries of the European Union, since it means that the increase in the price of gas harms the countries of the Iberian Peninsula more.