Thursday, January 19, 2017

Energy attacks the gas market to try to lower the electric bill – Investing.com Spain

By Inmaculada Sanz and Andrés González

MADRID (Reuters) – The Energy minister, Álvaro Nadal, went out to the passage of the rapid rise of the electricity bill by announcing modifications in the system of formation of prices of the gas market, to which it attributed the rise, in the midst of a cold wave in Spain.

The controversy created by the high electricity prices, which have marked the highest level intraday since December 2013, led to an appearance by the minister at a press conference, after saying in an interview on radio that, to keep up the current prices, the receipt is to make about 100 euros a year.

“We are acting on the market where it is having a greater ascent so that you can have more operators that make better offers in quantity and price, that is to say, that can cheapen the price of gas, which is the that is setting the price of electricity,” Nadal said at a press conference at the ministry.

however, one of the measures referred to by the minister in this situation -the introduction of a market maker to provide liquidity to the negotiation of gas prices in Spain with the aim to reduce of this form the receipt of the light – was already known.

In June of last year, when the electricity prices were 50 percent lower than they are today, was called to the service of creation of market for the MibGas, the awarding of which was planned for early this year.

The goal is to expand the offer in the system of formation of prices, which is expected to enable lower the price of gas, limiting the oscillations, and by reducing indirectly the receipt of the electricity.

Wednesday 18 January saw the highest price since December 2013, touching the 92,60 euro per megativo/hour around 21:00 hours, with an average price of daily 78,83 euros, according to data from OMIE (Market Operator of Iberian Energy). The minister has already anticipated that the cost of the Thursday would be even higher, in a week in which all the Autonomous Communities except the Canary islands, have been affected by a cold wave.

A BILL COMPLEX

In the complex of the receipt of the light in Spain enter the fray, many factors and, in fact, the rise in current prices only affects half of the consumers who have the receipt in the free market.

in Addition, of this receipt, the variable component of the price of energy represents less than 40 percent, since the rest are fixed costs of the system and taxes.

Nadal blamed the rise to high gas prices, because in contexts like the present, companies are turning to combined cycle to produce electricity by burning gas, a fuel whose price is formed in a wholesale market a little liquid and very exposed to fluctuations.

in Addition, it highlighted the complex international panorama by the recent rise in the price of united to weather conditions – no wind and water – and to the limited supply of nuclear power from France, where it is stopped around 4 per cent of the production of this energy.

ON THE HYDROCARBONS LAW

The minister also announced that he has asked for a report to the National Commission of markets and Competition (CNMC) to establish a range of prices at which the traders will have to introduce the gas into the market.

it Is available to figure in the hydrocarbons law of may 2015, which gives the authority to the Government to compel the marketers of natural gas to submit bids for the purchase and sale of gas and that is the CNMC which set out a methodology to calculate the differential pay.

Nadal said he would investigate if the increase in the price of electricity obeys only to the weather conditions or if there may be increases “artificial” light taking advantage of the circumstances.

“Although there are objective reasons to that we are dealing with is a situation, what can’t happen is for someone to take advantage (…) Is the Spanish proverb that raging river, gain of fishermen. Well, we have to get even if you are on the raging river, that is, the profit of fishermen,” said the minister.

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