In the proposal for the National Budget 2023 (OE2023), the government has included a commitment to introduce three billion euros into the electricity and natural gas markets. This Wednesday, the Environment Minister, Duarte Cordeiro, clarified at a press conference that the intervention in the national energy system is aimed at businesses, saving 30% to 31% on electricity and 23% to 42% on gas.
“It was from energy that the effects on inflation started that we felt all over Europe and in Portugal in particular. It is with this intervention in the price market that we have somehow managed to prevent the spread of energy price increases in control the dimension of our society We are naturally involved in bread, milk and in all areas related to the production of services and products of our society”, argued the minister, noting that this intervention is “in proportion to what the expected price increase is” in 2023.
Classifying this package as “the largest intervention in the energy system in Portugal”, Duarte Cordeiro said the injections will take place in 2022, so that an effect can be felt on next year’s prices.
“We are talking about two billion euros on the electricity market and one billion euros on the natural gas market, aimed at companies, at large consumers,” said the minister. In other words, two billion euros will be used to reduce the electricity bill for companies by 30 to 31% by 2023, while one billion euros will be used to reduce the price of natural gas by 23% to 43%.
According to Duarte Cordeiro, the injection of three billion euros into the national energy system corresponds to the application of 1,500 million euros in regulatory measures – the Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) will announce how the two billion euros will be applied to the electricity system on 14 October – and up to EUR 1,500 million in measures “of a political nature”.
At the same press conference, Duarte Cordeiro recalled that the government will intervene in the national energy system for “a year”. In October 2021, “about EUR 508 million” was allocated to the national electricity system, to which will be added the creation of the Iberian mechanism agreed by Portugal and Spain, announced in May – which already represents a “cumulative benefit of EUR 305 million”. among the 150 million euros introduced into the national electricity system in June and “the return to the regulated natural gas tariff”, a measure announced in September.
All in all, the government says that the intervention in the prices of light and gas for companies and consumers already amounts to 963 million euros.
(Updated)
Source: DN
