The government rolled out a new form of assistance nearly a year ago, a program called the electric social bonus. It sits alongside a shield of measures designed to mitigate the impact of the energy crisis. The aid was not specifically targeted only at vulnerable households; instead it offered a temporary 40% reduction on electricity bills for households with average incomes.
Officials announced that up to 1.5 million households could benefit from the new temporary discount. The program is run by a company that finances electricity providers in proportion to their market share, passing the savings onto all customers through their bills. Yet the actual number of beneficiaries fell well short of that ambitious target.
Official records from the Ministry of Ecological Transition show that there were 25,583 households receiving support at the end of last July. Discounts of 40% represented less than 2% of the total beneficiaries of the electric social bonus. The number of beneficiaries of the new discount for vulnerable households has steadily climbed since its inception, with some months seeing more than 6,600 accepted applications.
In light of the low uptake, the managing authority explained that families had the chance to participate in a price-protection measure, but overall the total number of beneficiaries was much smaller than the potential by design, and participation remained voluntary.
There is also an option to benefit from this electricity discount for the so-called middle class. In practice, this is valid through the year’s end unless the government decides to extend it. It applies to households under the regulated electricity tariff with an annual income under €27,700 for two adults and two young children, and €16,800 for a single-adult household.
Record number of people receiving social bonuses
Spain has, for the first time, surpassed 1.5 million households covered by all forms of social electricity bonuses. Government data show that 1.52 million families benefited from these rebates by the end of July, a figure that rose sharply as the energy crisis continued to unfold.
The electric social bonus delivers a discount ranging from 25% to 40% on electricity bills, depending on the degree of need, categorized as vulnerable, seriously vulnerable, or at risk of social exclusion. As a crisis-response measure, the government temporarily boosted discounts to as much as 65% and even 80% for the majority of beneficiaries. This extraordinary increase is planned to apply only through year-end, with the administration weighing an extension in the coming months.
Since July 2022 the number of beneficiaries has grown by about 21%, with 267,300 new homes added to the program to assist vulnerable and seriously vulnerable families. Since the energy crisis began, the overall number of recipients has increased by about 31% according to a combined analysis from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC). Additional families have joined since May 2021, just before the first emergency measures were introduced in June of that year to curb energy price increases.
Neighborhood gas rate
The government also introduced a subsidized gas rate aimed at large residential blocks in neighborhoods with centralized heating. Since the new collective last-resort rate, known as Neighborhood TUR, launched last October with a discount near 50%, roughly 6,700 neighborhood communities have benefited, as approved by the Ministry of Ecological Transition. When the neighborhood TUR was activated, the government projected that about 1.7 million households would eventually gain from it, though the number of eligible communities was not specified.
Access to this new, regulated subsidized rate, which is set to expire at year-end unless extended, requires that eligible communities meet certain criteria. In particular, each home must have a separate meter installed by that deadline, ensuring that monthly gas consumption is measured accurately and remains in line with the three-year average. Some requirements can make it challenging for neighbors to coordinate and agree on adopting the new tariff.