The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the Contingency Plan that it will send to Brussels in which it outlines the lines that will mark the policy of reducing Spain’s energy consumption and that will allow it to reduce total energy consumption by 4% and gas between 5.1% and 13.5%, between January and March.
It is a document of more than 150 pages, which contains 73 measures, some of which had already been approved, such as the reform of the regulated price of electricity (PVPC) or the reduction of VAT on gas from 21% to 5%. In total, there are 10 that the Government has especially highlighted:
The Government will implement measures to increase the coverage of thermal bonds beyond those already applied. It is expected that more users will be able to access help and that those who already enjoy it will have an increase.
A mechanism is being sought that allows the 1.6 million neighborhood communities with a community gas boiler, which consume more than 50,000 kW, to benefit from the discounts on this fuel that small consumers already enjoy. At the moment, there is no defined plan of how it will be done if allowing them to access the regulated rate of last resort (TUR) or direct aid.
The aid package to promote the installation of solar panels is also increased by 500 million euros.
There will be no mandatory measures for anyone. But the Government asks the Public Administrations and Large companies to serve as an example to apply saving measures. Specifically, the Autonomous Communities will have to present before December 1 the type of measures that they will implement to achieve the savings claimed by Brussels. Among the measures that are expected to include are the replacement of public lighting with more efficient light bulbs.
The Minister of Energy Transition has lamented that final consumers are not aware of the impact on the reduction of their bills that the measures taken by the Government in general and the Iberian exception in particular have had. Therefore, the invoice will be reformed to include this type of information. In addition, the new invoice will have information on the consumption of similar homes in the same neighborhood as well as tips to encourage savings.
The Government, which has already lowered taxes in the energy area on several occasions, promises more. Specifically, tax incentives to leave behind fossil fuels and bet on renewable energies. At the moment, there is no detail. “It is under study with the Ministry of Finance,” says Teresa Ribera.
In line with the aid articulated during the covid crisis, the Government will now launch lines of public financing for investments that implement saving and efficiency measures
The plan includes an expansion of the PERTE for renewables, hydrogen and storage with an additional allocation of 1,000 million euros, as well as the creation of a new PERTE for decarbonisation of the industry.
Another big step will be the expansion of the radius of action of renewable energy self-consumption facilities beyond the current 500 meters, although it has not been specified how far that limit will go.
Measures will be adopted to make the electricity transmission network more flexible to better adapt to the challenges of the energy transition. Among other things, this means that the connection that reaches homes, which until now has been, in most cases, unidirectional from the producer to the consumer, can have two paths and thus facilitate the reversal of non-consumed production in the case of installations of self-consumption. For this, the Government will review the Network Planning Plan 201-2026 already in 2023
The Spanish contingency is not to run out of supply as it happens to some of the European Union partners, “the Spanish contingency is to respond to the neighbours’ needs”, warned Teresa Ribera. Spain has a guaranteed supply due to its diversification of sources, but since the summer it has become “the battery of Portugal, selling 33% of its consumption and one of the livelihoods of France, to whom it sells 4% of its total consumption.
Therefore, this contingency plan establishes measures for the maximum use of export capacity. It has already increased by 18% the capacity of the tube connection with France through the Pyrenees and also by methane tankers with Italy. At the beginning of 2023, the Gijón regasification plant will be launched as a logistics platform to support community partners.
Although the Government does not include it among the main measures, it should be due to its importance. The document sent to Brussels includes the commitment of the Spanish State to analyze the impact of this plan on a monthly basis and publish the conclusions.
