Light rises by 30% in Hego Euskal Herria amid the cold wave
- On 8 January electricity has reached the second highest price ever in the Spanish state with the most expensive energy in Europe. The Spanish Government has therefore asked the Competitiveness Commission to initiate an investigation into this matter. According to experts, the increase in electricity has been due to a significant increase in demand for the strong winter we are experiencing, to increased production of the combined cycle plant operating with gas and to low production of renewable energies.
At the beginning of the year, the price of electricity has continued to grow. Last Friday, January 8, it reached the second highest price ever: The price amounted to EUR 94.99/MWh and there is a threat of growth of more than EUR 100 in the coming days.
The increase in demand to deal with this winter environment, the increased production of the combined cycle plant that works with gas and the scarce presence of renewable energies have caused energy to increase more than 30% in Hego Euskal Herria. As an attempt, the representative of the Goiener Network, María Artetxe, explained in an interview with Eitbin that the climatic conditions we are suffering in Europe and Asia have increased the demand for gas and therefore increased its price to the biggest in history.
In the interview, Artetxe explains that the price of light is fixed every hour at the auction and that this calculation "is not very transparent":
Pending an investigation
In view of what has been said, the Spanish Government has urged the National Competition Commission to open an investigation into what is happening in Spain. In fact 2013.urtean, this same commission imposed a fine of EUR 25 million on Iberdrola for a similar case (which it has not yet paid). The journal El Salto has worked on the subject in depth. This report reports the complaint of the consumer association Facua, which in January the electricity price has risen 35.8% compared to the previous year and places Spain among the European countries with the most expensive energy.
"The problem isn't the cold wave, it's privatization."
The article of El Salto refers to Jorge Fabra Utray (author of the blog Economistas Anticrisis). The price of electricity "hasn't hit by the cold wave. It has been exploited by Law 54/1997, regulating the electricity market". This Law was approved by José María Aznar, who established the currently existing pricing system. According to this economist, the problem is that Iberdrola, Naturgy and Endesa absorb 90% of the market, "ineffective and damaging the state economy on a daily basis, cold and heat, and aggravate the problems of energy poverty".
Three. A few years ago, Iberdrola commissioned us to replace the analogue meter with a digital one. Workers were sent home from time to time without notice. We doubted those unusual interests and issues that forced us to change the counter and that the counter in the house... [+]
Azken hilabeteotan Iberiar Penintsulako handizkako merkatuan argindarraren prezioa etengabe ari da gora egiten. Urriaren 5ean, historian lehen aldiz, orduko megawattak (MWh) 200 euroko langa gainditu zuen, eta ordutik muga horren gainetik dago prezioa. Zer dela eta aldatzen da... [+]