The Minister of the Environment reiterated this Monday that the Government is intervening in the energy market, despite not giving the name of tax on extraordinary profits to the measure, through an action in the formation of prices.
We do not need to wait for a profit to be formed in a company to intervene, we do it for price. […] We have already intervened in the market, we do not call it canon [sobre lucros extraordinários]”, said Duarte Cordeiro, during his participation in a conference promoted by CNN, on the energy transition. “If it’s a fetish in Portugal, let’s call it taxation,” he added.
The official was referring to the Iberian mechanism that limits the price of gas used for electricity production, adopted to deal with the rise in prices, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.
In the current configuration of the European market, gas determines the global price of electricity when it is used, since all producers receive the same price for the same product, electricity, when it enters the network.
The European Commission will propose a temporary ceiling of 180 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) for electricity produced without using gas, but from sources such as renewables and nuclear, providing for the collection of revenues above this limit.
specifically, Brussels wants “a temporary revenue cap for inframarginal electricity producers”that is, lower-cost technologies, such as renewables, nuclear and lignite, which supply electricity to the grid at a cost below the price level set by the most expensive marginal producers”, who are currently “earning exceptional income, with relatively stable operating costs.
Asked about the government’s position on the European proposal, Duarte Cordeiro said that Portugal, “in principle”, will vote in favor, despite insisting that it already acts on excessive prices, before they are formed.
Regarding the construction of a gas pipeline that connects the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of Europe, through the Pyrenees (France is opposed), the Minister for the Environment defended that it is an investment that must be discussed at a European level and that would penalize Portugal taking over the financing.
Regarding the debate on the use of nuclear energy as a way to deal with the gas shortage, Duarte Cordeiro said that the Government does not see “any advantage” in this technology and guaranteed that Portugal is focused on taking advantage of its geographical characteristics, such as the sun and sea, for energy production.
Source: Observadora
