BE introduced legislation on Tuesday to remove the ability for consumers to finance the costs of the social electricity tariff, defending it as a “social fairness minimum” borne by electricity companies.
“We are proposing a return to the previous model where BE automated social energy tariffs: that million dollar companies such as EDP, electricity companies pay the social energy tariff rather than ordinary electricity consumers, or as some voices on the Right say It has already been proposed that this should be covered by the general state budget. This is completely wrong, electricity companies should pay,” defended BE parliamentary leader Fabian Figueiredo.
In a conversation with the Lusa agency, the blockist deputy emphasized that “758 thousand families currently use the social energy tariff” and stated that “this is possible thanks to the automation that BE managed to introduce in 2016” into the state budget, as previously bureaucratic The process of becoming eligible for this tariff was “relatively complex”.
The blockists claim that the previous PS government “in a completely irresponsible manner allowed the cost of the tariff to be transferred to consumers’ bills, that is, people begin to have an increased cost of their bills and pay a social tariff.” energy.”
“This is completely wrong: in practice, the company further increases the profits of the electricity companies,” he warned, recalling that EDP had a profit of more than 900 million euros in 2023 and “has not yet paid the taxes due for the sale of the Douro dams.”
As well as not wanting consumers to bear the cost of this tariff, BE also wants to prevent “other alternatives being found”, such as government funding.
“The social energy tariff should not be borne by either government spending or ordinary taxpayers,” he said, believing that bearing the costs of the tariff “is the social justice minimum that is required of these companies.”
Fabian Figueiredo expressed hope that the parliamentary majority will approve this bill, considering it “elementary justice.”
The Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) estimates that the total funding requirement for the social electricity tariff in 2024 will be €136.5 million, of which around a third (€44.4 million) will come from a large number of electricity generation centers and the remainder part two thirds (92.1 million) are under the responsibility of 36 suppliers.
To this amount must also be added 14.8 million euros (5.3 million euros for electricity producers and 9.5 million euros for suppliers) covering the period from 18 November to 31 December 2023, since the model is retroactive to the approval of changes by the previous government.
According to the guidelines published on Friday evening by ERSE regarding the new distribution model for the financing of the social electricity tariff and coming into force on April 1, suppliers are free to pass on the costs to the end consumer if they wish.
In a statement during a public consultation on the new model, the ERSE tariff board estimated that the impact on the end consumer could increase bills by 1.13% on the free market and 0.93% on the regulated market.
Under the previous model, the costs of the social electricity tariff were shared among the largest producers, but last year the European Commission decided to uphold complaints lodged by the EDP, leading to cost sharing with a wider range of companies.
The social electricity tariff represents a 33.8% discount compared to prices on the regulated market for families with lower incomes.