ERSE proposes increase of 0.1% in electricity bill

  • ECO News
  • 15 October 2018

The Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) proposed an increase of 0.1% in electricity prices for the regulated energy market. This represents an increase of five cents on average in each bill.

The ERSE is proposing an increase of 0.1% in 2019 for electricity bills. The tax has to be confirmed on the 15th of December, and it was released by the regulator on the same day as the state will release the State Budget for 2019, which should encompass a measure to reduce energy bills by 5%, agreed between BE, left party, and PCP, the communist party.

According to the energy regulator, “the increase of 0.1% is going to be translated into an added weight for family budgets of 5 cents on the total monthly billing, which is calculated to reach on average €45,1 per month”. This average is a reference value for the liberalized energy market.

For those with social contributions, “the proposed tariff will mean an increase of about three cents, for an average monthly billing of €27,9, a value which already has deduced the €14,22 monthly social discount”, the regulator stated.

The tariff increase is said to be connected with the escalation of prices in the Iberian energy market (Mibel), which in turn are explained by the rising prices of fossil fuels (such as hard coal and natural gas) used in thermoelectric power plants.

The proposal from ERSE shows that ” the increase in the energy tariff, by about 20%, is showing how the strong growth of the price of electricity in the futures markets’ deliveries will evolve in 2019 which, in turn, will be a reflection of, to a certain extent, the evolution in the markets of fossil fuel prices (oil and coal), as well as the prices of CO2 emission licensing”.

In contrast, Mibel’s has witnessed an increasing trend in energy prices, but this increase has been overturned by a fall of 11.1% in network access tariffs, 15.1% fall for the global system access tariff, and of about 4.6% for overall network use. All these factors combined converged into the 0.1% tariff increase calculation.

Again, the value still has to be confirmed by the energy regulator on the 15th of December. Last year, by this time of the year, the ERSE had proposed a lowering of 0.2% on the regulated energy price. Then, it was the first time the tariff had been lowered over the period of 18 years. The increase proposed for 2019 is cancelling, partially, the decrease in prices which was registered because of the tariff’s reduction, this year.