A report from Deloitte urges Spain’s Energy Minister Álvaro Nadal to change the current model for asset remuneration and go for one similar to that in use in other European countries. The proposal implies an improved remuneration system for companies and, at the same time, forecasts reductions in electricity bills thanks to bigger demand in a more electrified economy.
The cuts which the Economy Ministry want to implement in the distribution of gas to networks could amount to over 1 billion euros in three years. And this has set off the alarm bells amongst the big financial institutions and international funds, which have invested a lot in this sector in Spain
Spain’s energy minister, Alvaro Nadal, has explained current week in a meeting with companies from Spanish electricity market that he is betting on a mix of competitive electricity generation which takes advantage of all kinds of technology, including coal and nuclear.
Spain’s big utility companies have accused the Energy Ministry of “driving investors away” with their strategy of revealing the next milestones in the energy reform to the large investment banks. The main electricity firms (Iberdrola, Endesa, Gas Natural and REE) saw almost 3 billion euros shaved off their market capitalisation in just one day.
Mari Pinardo | Spain has the capacity to produce much more electric energy than we can consume. On average we use 35,000 megawats and have 100,000 installed. So why is our electricity bill higher than our European partners?
On January 25, the rise in the wholesale price of electricity in Spain exceeded 100 euros per megawatt-hour, its record level. For many years, how electricity prices in Spain have been established has been a total nonsense, since the electricity pool functions like a marginal market. A division of the Supreme Court has decided to start proceedings to find out what the reasons are for the successive increases in electricity bills.
Energy sector analysts have received Spain’s new Energy Minister with a sense of satisfaction, pointing out that most of the electricity reform has been implemented, although there are a few aspects still to be regulated. This is too simple a version coming from a sector accustomed to having a low profile. And one which, despite the latest modifications, charges Spaniards one of the most expensive electricity tariffs in Europe, according to Eurostat.
Spain has been trying to push ahead with two projects which are vitally important for its energy sector: the sale of gas and electricity (basically renewables) to the EU. With practically no positive results to date. In 2012, an agreement was reached with France and Brussels to increase the electricity and gas interconnections with Europe via the Pyrenees. But in spite of that, and the fact the money is already ready there, the investments required are taking much more time to materialise than they should.
Eulogio López | Rafael Villaseca, CEO of Gas Natural Fenosa is an industrial engineer and it shows. He has worked for a wide variety of companies: Panrico, Inisel, Nueva Montaña Quijano…And lately he has become a harsh critic not of the renewable energy firms themselves, but of the subsidies they receive.