Ribera admits that the adjustment between the gas cap and the real price will be distributed among consumers

The Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has said that the agreement with Europe to limit the price of gas for electricity production is a "reinsurance for Iberian consumers", and has explained that

During her speech at the plenary session of the Congress of Deputies this Wednesday, the third vice president of the Government has advanced that this temporary measure, agreed for a period of twelve months, "will be financed through a very significant reduction in the extraordinary benefits of the electricity companies that use other technologies that have not been affected in their costs and are paid at the maximum price".

He thus referred to the "political agreement" with the European Commission, announced on Tuesday by Spain and Portugal, to limit the impact of the price of gas on the wholesale electricity market, which consumers will count on their bills from May.

Although it has yet to become official, it will start with

to stabilize at around 50 euros on average throughout the period.

Once approved and in force, it will benefit

-those who have a regulated rate- and up to 80% of industrial electricity consumers, whose bills are linked to the wholesale electricity market.

"It reinforces the protection of consumers", reiterated the minister, who has shown her "satisfaction" for having provided a "more protective" situation to consumers in both countries, in a scenario in which the price of gas "can increase" in the coming days due to Russia's latest move to cut supplies to Poland and Bulgaria.

Special mention has been dedicated to the words of the chairman of Iberdrola,

, who, at the analysts' conference in which he presented the group's results, expressed the opinion that the exceptional regime for the Iberian electricity market "is not justified and is contrary to single market".

"Mr. Galán defends the interests of his shareholders. It is up to the Government to defend the interests of the Spaniards

," the head of Ecological Transition pointed out to questions from journalists.

FINANCING

Before, in the urgent interpellation of the PP, Ribera has reported that this "reinsurance" will be financed "through a very significant reduction in the extraordinary benefits of electricity companies that use other generation technologies that have not been affected in their costs and that, however,

In addition, "in order to cover the 'a posteriori' adjustment between the price of gas at 40 euros/MWh and the real price in the official market, it will have to be distributed among energy consumers", indicated the third vice-president of the Government, whose intention is to take the proposal to the Council of Ministers "as soon as possible".

Likewise, he has asserted that Spain and Portugal are indeed "an energy island", and that "a time has come when beyond the Pyrenees the need is felt to speed up what has been a burden until now", that is, poor interconnection with the European internal market.

According to the calculations offered by the minister, "Spain should be connected with France by up to 10% in 2020. Today, it is 2.8%", a circumstance that

For practical purposes, this means that "a Spanish industrial consumer cannot contract his electricity with a German or Danish marketing company due to this great limitation", but rather "has to settle for the price of the companies in Spain".

IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO REDUCE TAXES

Regarding the hypothetical reduction of taxes, proposed by the Populares, Ribera considers that "it is not enough to replace the payment of consumers with the payment of taxpayers, leaving public coffers burdened, but it

for electricity in the wholesale market".

"It is logical that we pay for natural gas at the price of natural gas, but we avoid many compensations to the rest of the technologies that see their benefits increase enormously", stressed the minister, referring to the operation of the electricity market, where the most expensive technology sets the price of the megawatt hour.

"Fortunately, Europe has understood this, achieving an enormously positive agreement", responded to the PP deputy

who has argued that the "electricity price difference between Spain and France will make

For the opposition party, "there is another, more efficient, direct and immediate way" to limit the impact of rising prices on the energy markets, "the tax cut that (Ribera) opposes."

has expressed herself in similar lines

, to whom Ribera has reminded the importance of "taxes that are more taxing on those who have the most, that benefit those who need it most", and that make societies " much more cohesive, egalitarian and democratic"

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