644.8 million euros have been allocated to compensate companies for the limit on the increase in the cost of raw materials

MADRID, 29 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The rate of last resort (TUR) for individual natural gas will drop by 1.34% on average starting next Sunday, October 1, in relation to the price in force since the previous review on July 1, as reported to Europa Press in sources from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.

Specifically, for an average customer TUR 1 (kitchen and domestic hot water) will mean a decrease of 3.32% in their annual bill with taxes, while for one in TUR 2 (kitchen, domestic hot water and heating) it will represent a 0.28% drop in your annual bill with taxes.

Meanwhile, for a TUR 3 client (SMEs), the review starting this month of October will mean a decrease of 1.14% in their annual bill with taxes, according to the resolution published this Friday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) with the price review for this next quarter.

Since the entry into force of RD Law 17/2021 in October 2021, the impact of high natural gas prices on consumer bills had been considerably attenuated, with an approximate average decrease in their annual bill since the application of the law. average of about 63.41 euros/year for an average client from TUR 1, 192.91 euros/year for one from TUR 2 and 344.2 euros/year for one from TUR 3.

The natural gas TUR is a regulated tariff that any consumer connected to natural gas networks with a pressure less than or equal to 4 bar and whose annual consumption is less than or equal to 50,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) can benefit from. Through Royal Decree-Law 18/2022, of October 18, its application was expanded to the communities of owners and energy service companies that provide services to them.

The TUR for natural gas is reviewed quarterly on the 1st of the months of January, April, July and October of each year, and is updated whenever the cost of the raw material included in the rate experiences a greater upward or downward variation. 2% with respect to the value used in the current rate or, in any case, when new tolls or charges come into force. Its value is made public in the BOE.

Royal Decree-Law 17/2021, of September 14, on urgent measures to mitigate the impact of the escalation of natural gas prices in the retail gas and electricity markets, limited the increase in cost by 35% and 15%. of raw materials included in the last resort rate in force on October 1, 2021 and January 1, 2022 respectively. This measure was extended until this next review on October 1, through article 1 of Royal Decree-Law 18/2022.

Consequently, the cost of raw materials for calculating the TUR for next October 1 has been limited to 15%. It would have been 47% in relation to the current value, due to the rise in international oil and gas prices. This increase, however, is offset by the reduction in regulated costs, yielding the aforementioned average decrease of 1.34%.

In the case of the neighborhood TUR, created in October 2022 by the Government, the cost of raw materials for these consumers is weighted at 30% of the value derived from the formula of order ITC/1660/2009, of 22 June and 70% that resulting from Royal Decree-Law 17/2021, of September 14. Consequently, the cost of the raw material of the local TUR is 3.131085 euro cents per kWh, 24.51% higher than that used in the rate in force since last July 1.

Consequently, as of April 1, 2023, the variable term of the neighborhood TUR increases between 15.8% and 22.8%, depending on the different seven sections of this TUR, depending on the level of consumption.

Thus, TUR4 will rise by 15.84%, TUR5 by 16.28%, TUR6 by 22.10%, TUR7 by 22.27%, TUR8 by 22.61%. the TUR9 22.64%, the TUR10 22.68% and the TUR11 22.89%.

In October of last year, the Government approved, encouraged by the arrival of the winter storm and energy prices due to the war in Ukraine, a shield of 3,000 million euros to protect consumers of regulated gas rates from possible increases, which In practice it represents a direct subsidy to customer bills.

This caused a flurry of consumers switching to the regulated natural gas rate. In the case of communities of owners with community natural gas boilers covered by the new rate, this figure was not so high.

Sources from the Ministry indicated that the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has paid 644.8 million euros to the four marketing companies of the TUR in concept of the deficit generated until the end of last July, due to the limitation of the 15% in the increase in the cost of raw materials regulated in Royal Decree-Law 17/2021, of September 14. This amount comes from the extraordinary credit of 3,000 million euros regulated in Royal Decree-Law 18/2022.