Figure the total savings between 1,880 and 2,100 million euros
MADRID, 2 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The application of the cap to gas for the generation of electricity, in force in Spain and Portugal since June 15, has meant a reduction in the electricity bill in Spain of about 209 euros per home since its implementation, according to calculations from EsadeEcPol, Esade's economic policy research center.
This is because the average price of electricity in the absence of the Iberian mechanism would have been 31.8% higher. "This corresponds to a saving of about 209 euros per home. Assuming 10 million homes in regulated tariff (January 2022 figure), we would be facing a total saving of almost 2,100 million. If there were less, about 9 million (figure from August) the savings would be estimated at 1,880 million", added the institution.
This lower energy price in Spain has also had an impact on the evolution of inflation and, according to EsadeEcPol, due to the implementation of this measure, the average increase in the cost of living in 2022 was 0.3 percentage points lower.
"Spain would have closed at 8.7% instead of 8.4% (average annual inflation). Let us remember that the Eurozone had an average inflation of 8.38%, closing at 9.2% year-on-year, the latter being only 5.7% for Spain", says the report.
Regarding this, EsadeEcPol analysts Ángel Martínez and Javier Martínez point out that the greater weight of electricity in the spending of low-income households implies that "any variation in its price affects them disproportionately".
To this is added that this sector of the population is overrepresented among those who have contracted the PVPC (regulated market), since one of the requirements to access the electric social bonus is to be eligible for said rate.
"This meant that in 2021 the rise in the price of electricity and other energy products would raise inflation in the poorest households two percentage points above that of the richest households," they have indicated.
However, the application of the Iberian mechanism has had as consideration a greater consumption of gas for electricity generation in combined cycle plants, which, according to the report, is an indication that the incentive for greater use of this energy source would continue to exist, "with the consequent conflict between the objective of savings in household bills and that of general savings in gas consumption for the Spanish and European economy".
However, in recent months the daily use of gas has been close to what "would have been expected" without the cap on gas. "In other words, the greatest increase was located in the summer months, which suggests that the impossibility of resorting to sources such as hydroelectric power due to the drought in those months could have influenced the extra recourse to gas," the report considers.
The estimate of the academic institution also indicates that without the Iberian mechanism the price of energy in Spain "would have been slightly" higher than that of France at "almost all times" since mid-September, which "suggests" that the "high exports " of 2022 could be due, in part, "to the lower price of electricity in Spain thanks to the compensation paid by national" households.
