Regulated electricity rates will rise 1.6% in January, compared to the values currently paid by the more than 900,000 domestic consumers who are covered. This value disclosed by the ERSE (Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos) is already final and represents an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to the proposal made in October, which pointed to a rate update of 1.1%.
This greater increase is explained by ERSE with a lower generation surplus in the special regime (PRE) to be returned to consumers. And this deviation is justified by a lower price differential between the costs of this production, almost entirely renewable, and the prices of the wholesale market. In other words, the reduction in wholesale market prices, also due to the effect of the Iberian mechanism that limits the cost of natural gas, ends up raising the regulated tariffs in the national market.
If we compare the average annual price paid in the regulated tariff in 2022, the year in which there were three extraordinary reviews, the proposed increase for 2023 will be 3.3%.
As for industrial clients, ERSE’s final proposal reflects an additional 30% decrease in the network access rate. The drop in this rate for domestic users will be 55%, which will largely offset the enormous increase in costs with the purchase of electricity in 2022.
Source: Observadora
