The Cabinet of Ministers approved on Tuesday the contingency plan, in which it plans to reduce gas consumption by between 5.1% and 13.5% to face the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. It is 73 measures. These are the top ten measures.
vulnerable consumers
The government promises to “strengthen” the electric social bonus and the thermal bonus, but without defining how. The first is a 60-70% discount on utility bills by electricity companies, and the second is a payment check from the State Budget for heating in winter. For this purpose, 259 million items were included in the 2023 Budgets, an increase of 102 million compared to the previous year.
common boilers
The government will limit the price of natural gas paid by neighborhood communities to common boilers. The aim is for these users to have a level of protection equivalent to one year of regulated gas tariff (TUR) consumers. There are 1.6 million installations of this type, known as central heating, in Spain.
Administrations and large companies
Before 1 December, autonomous communities and local organizations must publish their respective savings plans. Also, a new plan to reduce the consumption of outdoor lighting will be interest-free loans that will replace existing systems with more efficient ones and cover 100% of the replacement cost (for example, with the addition of LED lamps). In addition, large companies are “invited” to design their own savings plans based on the energy audits they have to submit from 2016.
Self consumption
The current limit of 500 meters as the minimum distance between solar panels and producer communities will be increased. How long that distance will be extended remains to be determined. In addition to the assistance for the installation of these plates, the total was increased to 500 million in addition to the existing allocation of 900 million.
Invoice more transparent and with recommendations
The new electricity and gas bills of domestic consumers and SMEs will include a comparison of the average consumption (zip code) in their neighborhood and generate savings tips (for example, use sunlight for heating or, on the contrary, avoid irradiation) solar energy in summer, savings for household appliances aid, etc.). In addition, information on the implementation of the Iberian mechanism will be consolidated to avoid confusion in invoices for both free market and regulated market customers.
tax returns
There will be financial incentives to encourage the substitution of fossil fuel use for renewable energies. Specific measures are being negotiated with the Treasury, according to Ministry of Ecological Transition sources.
ICOs for SMEs
The Official Credit Institute (ICO) will create a ‘green kit’ to finance energy efficiency and renewable measures in small and medium-sized companies.
value chain
The development of the renewable energy value chain will be accelerated with a larger financial allocation for the Strategic Project (Perte) for the Recovery and Economic Transformation of Renewables and Hydrogen. Specifically, it will have an additional provision of €1,000 million, known as ‘Perte Hera’, which will be added to the €3,500 million already allocated.
electrical planning
Specific changes will be made to the current electricity planning (2021-2026) to make short-term strategic projects viable. Also, starting from 2023, work will begin on a new planning (2024-2029) without waiting for the previous one to expire.
Solidarity with the EU
Logistics capacity will be increased with ships that will send liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the rest of Europe. In addition, the target of maximizing the gas export capacity to France by 18% through the Pyrenean interconnection has been set.