From October, consumers on the liberalized natural gas market can again adhere to the regulated tariff. The announcement was made yesterday by Environment and Climate Action Minister Duarte Cordeiro, following the gas bill hikes announced by EDP Comercial and Galp on Wednesday. In a press conference, the minister stated that the government has decided to lift the legal restrictions on the regulated gas tariff (which prevents those who have entered the free market from taking the decision) to allow families and small traders – who have an annual consumption from up to 10 thousand cubic meters of gas – are affected by 150% increases in your bill.
In the words of Duarte Cordeiro, these increases cannot be compared with the 3.9% already announced by the Regulatory Authority for Energy Services (ERSE) as of October for the regulated market. Currently, 227,000 customers remain on the regulated natural gas tariff, data from ERSE shows. In other words, about 97.7% of Portuguese consumers entered the free gas market.
“The government has been working on a series of measures to respond to the rise in the cost of living for the Portuguese,” the minister said. But “in light of what we knew, we decided to anticipate”.
The measure will cover about 1.5 million consumers, according to the Minister of Environment and Climate Action, a number equivalent to 7% of gas consumption in Portugal and 12% of all contracts. It takes up to a year, says Duarte Cordeiro.
When asked about a possible reduction in VAT on gas, a measure proposed by the European Union, the environment minister stated that the government initiative is “more effective than other alternatives”, with “direct consequences on the price that households pay for gas. “, even “a saving compared to the current price”. And he stressed that “access to the regulated tariff is support – the biggest support – to control and lower the price of electricity and gas.
Savings between 4 and 46 euros
Currently, a couple with two children and without central heating, with an annual consumption of 292 cubic meters of gas, which is on the regulated market, can save between four and 46 euros per month compared to what they would pay on the liberalized market , and depending on the operator.
According to this example from ERSE, based on data from the second quarter, the family paid 23.41 euros per month on the regulated market. If you were an EDP Comercial customer, you would pay 28.10 euros and at Galp Power the amount would be 56.16 euros. Iberdrola charged the highest price, with a bill of 69.37 euros.
Deco believes consumers’ return to the regulated gas market is “the best option” given the high prices, but called on the government to cut VAT to further cut costs. Speaking to the Lusa agency, Ingride Pereira, a lawyer with the consumer protection association, said that “at the moment it is undoubtedly the best option for consumers to be able to return to the regulated market because the regulated tariff is the cheapest and most accessible tariff.”
The lawyer also emphasized that the issue of the criteria for accessing the social gas tariff
should also be reconsidered. “We believe that the criteria for access to the social gas tariff should be the same as those for electricity in order to support more consumers and families in the face of these increases,” he underlined.
solidarity account
Duarte Cordeiro also announced the relaunch of the “Bilha Solidária” program, which will now involve the parish councils and CTT. The measure launched in April this year, which provided a monthly support of EUR 10 per bottle of gas, was in effect for three months, but of the more than 800,000 beneficiaries of the social electricity tariff and the minimum social benefits who could participate, there was little more of eight thousand did. The program cost only 225 thousand euros, while the government predicted that the expenditure would be four million. One of the reasons for poor consumer compliance was lack of disclosure and bureaucracy, problems the government now wants to solve so that aid reaches more people.
The minister was also asked about the increase in support for industry, especially for energy-intensive companies. Duarte Cordeiro transferred the responsibility to the ministry under the supervision of António Costa Silva. “This is a measure that needs to be clarified by the Ministry of Economic Affairs,” he emphasized.
The official also underlined that in this sector there are “several offers from traders that have not experienced sharp increases”. And he emphasized the benefits of applying the Iberian mechanism, emphasizing that “the benefit of this adjustment mechanism must be visible” in customers’ invoices. On the subject, the official also emphasized that the statements made by President Endesa, Nuno Ribeiro da Silva, last month that consumers would suffer from increases in electricity bills in the order of 40 euros, had no basis, because they were only “the Portuguese had been misled”.
Live Money Journalists
Source: DN
