Big energy companies are preparing to make a big customer transfer to regulated electricity prices. Forced to offer differently regulated rates (called the last resort rate, TUR) for natural gas, major gas companies have recently been making a They expect avalanche inquiries from customers about their regulated jumps and a change in the trend for regulated rates to shrink tremendously.ended up at free market rates with a dwindling customer base years later.
It’s a shift in trend fueled by the million-dollar package of measures to lower the price of regulated rates, announced by the government last week and officially approved this week. It is an anti-crisis shield included in the Greater Energy Security Plan. – the contingency plan that Brussels has requested from member states to tackle the energy crisis – and continue to limit by law any increases in the regulated gas rate applicable to 1.5 million customers through 2023, as well as for 1.7 million homes with central heating in a new neighborhood community. discount rate type.
The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) confirmed the shock in the gas market. The head of the supervisory authority, Cani Fernández, confirmed this Wednesday that there has been a “major move” by customers from the free market to the regulated natural gas ratio, and further denied that major bottlenecks have occurred. “We have confirmed that marketers of last resort are responding with agility to requests to cope with the shrinkage of regulated gas,” Fernández said.
Of the few companies that offer regulated gas rate – they are required by law to market it nature, Endesa, Iberdrola and Total Energies- A significant increase in inquiries from consumers requesting information about the advantages of TUR rates, both at their commercial offices and by telephone, was confirmed and some were received. Complaints about queues and long phone waits trying to communicate with their marketers even though the groups insist they are on time.
Naturgy, the largest gas company in the Spanish market by number of customers, has just activated the possibility of contracting at regulated rates via its website, ora road that has not been operational until now due to low demand. And many companies admit that they have strengthened their emergency marketing channels to avoid waiting for consumers in anticipation of increased demand for information from now on.
The number of customers benefiting from free gas market prices, the price of which is freely determined by the companies, is much higher than the customers of regulated enterprises, whose price is determined quarterly by the Government based on the evolution of international hydrocarbon prices, but there is a maximum limit to their increase since last year.
According to the latest CNMC report published at the end of last year, there are 7.9 million gas customers in Spain, of which only 20% have a regulated rate, up to 1.5 million users. This figure remained unchanged over the past year, although the price cut was in effect at the time. “The price differential between TUR and the free market had no impact on the evolution of TUR consumers in the fourth quarter of 2021,” the regulatory report said.
million dollar aid package
As part of the contingency plan for energy measures, The government has created a new type of regulated gas rate that can benefit neighborhood communities with central heating. – so far they have not benefited from exceeding the maximum allowable consumption – and in practice this will serve to reduce the bill of contracting households by around 50%. General Government Budgets (PGE) will cover the other 50% of the current receipt that these 1.7 million households will stop paying.
In parallel, the Executive will extend the limit on applicable increases to the regulated gas rate until the end of 2023. To prevent bills from skyrocketing in the midst of a gas price spiral in international markets, the Executive determined that no more than 15% of the material cost will be transferred temporarily (in principle to just two quarters) by mid-2021. Premium in October and January reviews of the adjusted rate, which in practice means capping the increase in final price to around 5%. Now this measure will be extended until the end of 2023 and all the deficit it created will be taken over by PGE from now on.
The Executive guarantees to allocate all necessary public budget to close the millionaire hole that the new aid measures will create in the accounts of the Spanish gas system. As stated in the royal decree approved by the Cabinet this Tuesday, the Ministry of Ecological Transition will approve an exceptional loan of 3,000 million to cover the cost of these measures, but commits to “increase the amount of this item.” It is necessary to close the real gap created by the end of 2023.