The electricity price will increase by 3.7% for households that remain on the regulated market, as already announced by ERSE – Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos, while in the liberalized market the twenty or so electricity companies in Portugal have not yet made public the prices they charge made. will practice.
Highway tolls are expected to increase by 2.04% in 2024, while rents will increase by 6.94%, the highest since 1994, with the increase partially mitigated by strengthening support for tenants and share of revenue that the IRS can reduce. .
The already known price updates for next year are as follows:
Bread
The price of bread will rise again next year due to increases in production costs, the Association of Trade and Industry of Bakery, Pastry and Similar (ACIP) told Lusa.
“Adjustments will have to be made to sales prices to mitigate increases in the costs of production factors,” Lusa, chairman of the ACIP Supervisory Board, Helder Pires, responded, without specifying figures.
In addition to the price of raw materials, labor costs have hurt the sector, also pointing to difficulties in hiring workers.
Electricity
The electricity price on the regulated market will increase by 3.7% in January compared to December, a value higher than what ERSE – Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos predicted in October.
This increase in the transitional rates for sales to end customers delays those “who remain on the regulated market (representing 6.3% of total consumption and 936 thousand customers at the end of October 2023), or who, because they are on the free market, have opted for a comparable rate”.
Regarding the average annual variation in the transitional rates for sales to end customers in Low Normal Voltage (BTN), this amounts to 2.9%, and “these increases are in line with the inflation forecast for 2024, which represents zero variation in real terms “, he indicated.
“This tariff increase, higher than that announced in October, is due to a larger difference in Guaranteed Reimbursement (PRG) production costs than initially expected,” the regulator explained.
In the liberalized market, only EDP Comercial has announced that from January it will reduce the “energy” component by 21% in light of the “more favorable conditions” of the market, in an effort to soften the increase in network access charges. but without expected final rates.
Gas
Natural gas rates for households on the regulated market increased by 0.6% in October, compared to prices in September.
Compared to the average gas price of the previous year (2022-2023), consumers on the regulated market faced an average increase in the final sales price of 1.3%.
This increase meant an average monthly increase of between ten and fifteen cents for the two most representative categories of customers, a married couple with two children and a couple without children, respectively.
Galp in turn increased prices by an average of 4%, while EDP reduced gas prices by about 20% from October.
Lace
Rents will be discounted by 6.94% in 2024, the highest since 1994, with the increase partially offset by the strengthening of support for tenants and the portion of rents that the IRS can reduce.
Contrary to what happened in 2023, when the increase in rental prices was limited to 2%, in 2024 they may increase in line with the inflation indicator that serves as a reference for its update and which, according to the value calculated by the National Institute Statistics (INE), stands at 6.94%.
However, for some tenants the increase may be even more pronounced, as the law allows the landlord to add to this value the value of the previous two years – if they have chosen not to update rents in 2022 and 2022.
In these cases, the 6.94% can therefore be added to the 2% allowed in 2023 and the 0.43% of the previous year. But it may also happen that there is no increase, because updating the rents is not mandatory and the landlord can choose not to do so.
Toll
The inflation that serves as a reference for the annual update of toll rates points to an increase of 1.94% in 2024, to which an additional 0.1% must be added that concessionaires can apply to compensate for the limit on price increases imposed on them in 2023.
The combination of the inflation rate that serves as a reference for the increase in tolls and the expected counterpart therefore results in an increase of 2.04%, which corresponds to less than half of the increase observed in 2023.
But the arrival of the new year will also bring price reductions, especially regarding tolls on various routes and sub-routes of old SCUTs inland and in the Algarve.
Transport
CP — Comboios de Portugal today announced the new prices for 2024, with an average increase of 6.25% in tickets for Alfa Pendular and Celta and 6.43% for the others.
According to the message published by CP, “the value of subscriptions and passes will not change.”
With the new fares, which come into effect from January 1, an Alfa Pendular ticket between Lisbon and Porto, in second class, one way, for example, goes from 31.90 euros to 33.90 euros.
The same route but on Intercidades costs 26.85 euros, compared to the current 25.25 euros.
Navegante passes, for circulation in the Lisbon metropolitan area (AML), will maintain their price in 2024, but for those who do not have a monthly pass, taking the metro in the capital will become more expensive: the new rates for occasional tickets will will be updated on January 1 and in the case of the metro ticket (and Carris, if purchased in advance) it will cost 1.80 euros, while until now it cost 1.65 euros, which represents an increase of 9% or 15 cents.
Telecommunications
The three main telecom operators Meo (Altice Portugal), NOS and Vodafone Portugal will increase prices next year, after regulator Anacom asked for “restraint” with the increase a month ago.
According to information on the website, Meo will “update its prices in accordance with the contractual terms in force.” As regards monthly fees for mobile postpaid services, the update will enter into force on January 1, 2024, with the contractually provided minimum value of 50 cents including VAT.
The monthly rates for fixed television and convergent services will be updated on February 1.
“For extra mobile cards, the contractually agreed minimum value of 50 cents (including VAT) applies,” says the Meo website.
The NOS, in turn, explains that “the inflationary context has increased costs in the communications sector” and that in this context “the price of services will be adjusted”, according to the IPC.
“This update applies to both the monthly service costs and additional ceiling costs” and “the new prices will come into effect on February 1, 2024 and every customer can consult their specific update on the NOS website from January 23, 2024,” he adds.
Vodafone Portugal also states on its website that it will update the price of its telecommunications services from February 1, 2024, with the increase calculated based on the IPC.
Source: DN
