The Supreme rejected three appeals against cuts to renewable – Yahoo Finance Spain

MADRID (Reuters) – The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday rejected three appeals on cuts to the remuneration of renewable energy production approved by the Government of the Party popular to reduce costs indebted Spanish electrical system.

the energy reform implemented by the PP raised hackles among investors in renewable energy and has caused a flurry of appeals and petitions for international arbitration, and an important social scramble for investments made by individuals and small producers.

the new legislation dramatically reduced the profitability of these assets, which were paid between 13 and 30 per cent to encourage production sources contaminants. These high returns justify largely the system’s deficit that reached generate over 25,000 million euros debt.

In its judgments, the Supreme uses the criteria of the Constitutional Court to endorse this cut, saying that although the remuneration system was changed, there was no “prohibited retroactive” since future payments were modified but not asked the producers to return the consideration received.

“the opposite would recognize the right consolidated perceive a certain profitability also for the future, petrifying the existing remuneration system, “said Supreme.

on this point there has been a particular vote of three of the seven judges of the Chamber of Administrative the Supreme.

Two of them claim that the Royal Decree and the legislative Order should have been declared void by “unlawful retroactivity” and undermine legal security.

“regulation regulatory has a determination to operate retroactively because, as I tried to explain, the effectiveness of the reform is not projected only forward in time but also backward, “said the dissenting opinion signed by Eduardo Calvo and Isabel Perelló.

Another judge of the Supreme Court, Eduardo Espin, does not ask for the annulment of the reform, but agrees that resources should have been estimated “in what were alleged to these provisions retroactivity contrary to law by incurring the infringement of the principles of legal certainty and legitimate expectations “

(Reporting by Andres Gonzalez Edited by Carlos Ruano)

.