Banco Sabadell: According to the press, if the government does not extend by the end of the year, by means of a decree, some of the tax measures adopted after the Ukraine crisis (such as VAT on electricity and gas bills of 5% as opposed to 21% previously; 0.5% excise tax on electricity against 5% previously or the 15% cap on quarterly gas reviews), electricity and gas prices would rise…
Banco Sabadell: According to information in the press, the EC in a report sent to the Council and the European Parliament is calling for the withdrawal of emergency interventions in the wholesale market, such as the cap on income in the electricity market (€180/MWh in Europe and €67/MWh in Spain) for infra-marginal technologies (renewable, hydro and nuclear). The EC considers that electricity price peaks are not expected next winter like…
Lidia Conde (Francfort) | Veronika Grimm (Rendsburg, Germany, 1971) sits on the German Federal Government’s Advisory Council of Economists, which analyses the country’s economic development on the basis of scientific criteria and publishes a report every autumn in which it expresses its analyses and forecasts. Following its opinion, the government in turn responds to the council’s recommendations. Now, Grimm predicts that the economy of the continent’s leading power will shrink…
The Ministry for Ecological Transition has informed the Council of Ministers of the proposed reform of the European wholesale electricity market that the government has sent to Brussels today. Following the economic measures that the Spanish government has proposed, and which Brussels “has accepted as its own”, according to the Secretary of State for Energy, Sara Aagesen, during the presentation of the proposal to the media, the “conceptual” debate on…
Renta 4 | The latest report published by Levelten, a renewable transactions consultant and PPA market operator, states that the prices of PPAs signed in Europe reached €57/MWh (blended solar and wind), which represents an increase of 27.5% vs. the first quarter of 2021 and 8.6% in this quarter alone. Solar PPAs in Spain averaged €38/MWh, 12% higher (€4/MWh) than in 1Q21, being the country with the lowest solar PPA…
Julián González (Capital Madrid) | The war in Ukraine has brought economic and energy chaos to Spain and the whole of Europe. Brussels does not rule out the possibility of a collapse at all levels due to the upward spiral of both oil and gas prices. And it has forced many countries to prepare to face the biggest energy crisis, even greater than those in 1973 and 1979. The European…
Germany’s coalition parties agreed on Wednesday a roughly 13 billion euro package of measures to help households cope with surging energy prices, including scrapping a surcharge levied on electricity bills to support green power, as reported by Reuters. Energy prices in Germany have soared in the last year, and fears of an escalation of the crisis between Ukraine and gas supplier Russia are set to push them higher still. Germany’s…
Alphavalue | On Friday last week, Electricité de France cut its 2022 nuclear production target by almost -10% to 300-330 TWh, following extended shutdowns at five of its 56 nuclear reactors (7.3 GW). This is coupled with deadlocked NATO-US talks with Russia over the Kremlin’s military presence on the Ukrainian border. The situation means that if there is less nuclear power, the dependence on Russian gas will be greater. Didn’t we see this problem coming in the last three months when Russia upped the ante on Ukraine?
Public companies are more common in Europe than might a priori be imagined. Countries such as France and Italy, as well as Austria, Sweden and Finland, are good examples of European states with extensive public participation in their respective energy giants. Particularly relevant is the French case, where EDF (with almost 85% state ownership) enjoys a great popular reputation for guaranteeing electricity services to the most remote corners of the country. In the Spanish case, by contrast, the State’s shareholding is limited to 20 % in Red Eléctrica de España, the company that manages the energy transmission infrastructure and therefore has no direct impact on the price of electricity.
Nick Ottens (Atlantic Sentinel) | The continent faces a perfect storm involving accidents, depleted reserves and decreased Russian supply. Electricity prices are hitting records across Europe. In Portugal and Spain, wholesale energy prices have tripled from half a year ago to €178 per megawatt-hour. Italy is not far behind at €176. Dutch households without a fixed-price contract could end up paying €500 more this year. In the UK, prices peaked…