Madrid (AFP)

The heatwave in Spain made the price of electricity jump, giving a new boost to the left-wing coalition in power, divided on the remedies to be brought to this recurring problem.

The air conditioners have been running at full speed in recent days to fight an exceptional heat wave, which has climbed to 47 degrees in Andalusia (south).

Electricity prices, already rising sharply for months in the wake of global gas prices, have soared on the Spanish wholesale market, with an impact to be expected on the bill for the so-called "semi-regulated" tariff, which concerns about a third of individuals.

"Everything indicates that the month of August will end with the most expensive electricity bill in history", with an average of 92 euros to pay (+ 44% over one year), affirmed Tuesday the association of consumers Facua .

This phenomenon partly absorbs the temporary reduction in VAT on electricity - from 21% to 10% - decided at the end of July by the left-wing government of Pedro Sánchez to lower the bills of the most modest consumers, who already had suffered in January from a historic increase caused by a cold snap.

Faced with this surge, the radical left party Podemos, yet a member of the ruling coalition, has not hesitated to criticize its socialist partners again, against a backdrop of renewed tension within the government on the migration issue.

"We need (the government) to intervene on the price of energy and move towards a system of regulated prices," Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz, co-head of Podemos and number three in the government, told the magazine. Ctxt.

Spanish Minister of Labor Yolanda Diaz in front of La Moncloa Palace in Madrid, July 13, 2021 PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU AFP / Archives

"All this is the result of a process of privatization of the electricity sector (...) which has led to an oligopoly with prices multiplied each year", she continued.

For years, Spain has suffered from its dependence on gas for its electricity production, much stronger than that of European neighbors like France, which can count on its nuclear power plants, explains to AFP Jordi Castilla, spokesperson. word of Facua, who also criticizes the pricing policy of the major Spanish energy groups.

Spain was at the end of 2020 the fifth country in the EU where electricity is the most expensive for individuals, with Germany ranking first, according to the latest data available from Eurostat.

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Podemos demands that part of electricity prices be capped immediately by the government via a decree-law, even threatening to mobilize in the street if this is not the case, in a country where "energy poverty" is rife. regularly in the media.

"To say that we can solve this with a decree-law generates false hopes (...) Look at what is happening in the rest of Europe, it is not a problem specific to Spain", retorted the Socialist Minister of the Environment, Teresa Ribera, on the channel La Sexta.

Spanish Environment Minister Teresa Ribera arriving at La Moncloa Palace in Madrid on July 13, 2021 PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU AFP / Archives

The government has no control over the rise in world gas prices or the rise in CO2 emission rights, she has been repeating for weeks.

The socialist official calls for a change in the European rules of the electricity market, where prices are, according to them, dictated by fossil fuels, which puts Spain at a disadvantage.

The minister wrote to this effect at the beginning of the summer to the European Commission, but Brussels "replied that it did not have the slightest intention of introducing changes (...) We think that this is not reasonable", she said a few days ago on Cadena Ser radio.

For the first time, however, the minister was open to the idea of ​​creating a public company to manage the hydroelectric plants, a measure long demanded by Podemos in order to pull the rug out from under the big groups, accused to make huge profits on the backs of consumers.

A light bulb shines in Ronda (southern Spain) on April 7, 2020 JORGE GUERRERO AFP / Archives

But that will require waiting for the expiration of the concessions, which will take years.

Until then, Podemos and consumer associations call on the government to make the reduction in VAT sustainable.

Taxes in Spain represent more than 45% of the amount of the electricity bill, compared to around 40% on average in the EU, according to Eurostat.

Madrid has just extended the ban on electricity, water or gas cuts due to unpaid bills until the end of October, in order to help the most vulnerable in the face of the Covid-19 crisis.

© 2021 AFP