Released 10.03.2022
The Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU) has called for the “immediate and temporary” suspension of all taxes on gas, electricity and fuels in the face of rising energy prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The OCU has explained in a statement that it has launched a campaign to call for the temporary suspension of all energy taxes and intervention in the markets that set the price of electricity to cushion the effect that the war is having on Spanish consumers.
The organisation claims that the war is having a strong impact on the energy market, particularly affecting raw materials such as gas and oil, which are highly dependent on Russian imports.
It recalls that only 32% of the energy generated in Spain so far this month depends on fossil fuels, a situation that has not prevented the wholesale market average from reaching 378 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).
Thus, OCU denounces that 68% of the energy generated is receiving a remuneration “well above its real costs”, and warns that if these values are maintained, the average bill would exceed 175 euros in March, compared to 110 in February.
To halt this escalation, the organisation calls for “urgent, firm and decisive” intervention in the energy markets, including the temporary suspension of all taxes on household energy consumption. It also calls for adjustments to the system for setting electricity prices in the wholesale market to remove gas from the equation.
In addition, it believes that it is necessary to ensure that the regulated tariff or PVPC and the bono social fulfil their function of offering reasonably priced tariffs to consumers and vulnerable consumers, decoupling their price from the evolution of the wholesale market until their operation is modified.
Other measures requested by the OCU include ending the dominant position of large energy groups, improving tariff transparency, simplifying the social bonus and facilitating access to it, and improving energy efficiency in households.
The Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU) has called for the “immediate and temporary” suspension of all taxes on gas, electricity and fuels in the face of rising energy prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The OCU has explained in a statement that it has launched a campaign to call for the temporary suspension of all energy taxes and intervention in the markets that set the price of electricity to cushion the effect that the war is having on Spanish consumers.
The organisation claims that the war is having a strong impact on the energy market, particularly affecting raw materials such as gas and oil, which are highly dependent on Russian imports.
It recalls that only 32% of the energy generated in Spain so far this month depends on fossil fuels, a situation that has not prevented the wholesale market average from reaching 378 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).
Thus, OCU denounces that 68% of the energy generated is receiving a remuneration “well above its real costs”, and warns that if these values are maintained, the average bill would exceed 175 euros in March, compared to 110 in February.
To halt this escalation, the organisation calls for “urgent, firm and decisive” intervention in the energy markets, including the temporary suspension of all taxes on household energy consumption. It also calls for adjustments to the system for setting electricity prices in the wholesale market to remove gas from the equation.
In addition, it believes that it is necessary to ensure that the regulated tariff or PVPC and the bono social fulfil their function of offering reasonably priced tariffs to consumers and vulnerable consumers, decoupling their price from the evolution of the wholesale market until their operation is modified.
Other measures requested by the OCU include ending the dominant position of large energy groups, improving tariff transparency, simplifying the social bonus and facilitating access to it, and improving energy efficiency in households.
