MADRID (Dispatches) - Spain’s left-wing government has agreed emergency measures to cut spiralling energy bills as electricity prices climb to record levels.
It aims to channel €2.6bn (£1.9bn; $3bn) in energy company profits to consumers and slash electricity taxes over the winter months.
Energy bills are climbing across Europe as gas prices soar in particular.
Greece is promising subsidies to consumers and Italy is also aiming to review electricity bills.
But it was Spain that moved first on Tuesday. It has seen some of the highest energy prices in Europe in recent weeks, prompting protests over the summer in a number of cities.
Wholesale electricity prices rose during the summer months and have continued to climb, with reports of a record high of €172.8 per megawatt hour for Wednesday, 12.6% up on Tuesday.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez promised Spaniards that under his “shock plan” they would pay no more for their electricity than they did in 2018 plus inflation:
Poland is facing some of the biggest increases in energy bills, as it not only has to deal with rising gas prices but hikes in the price of CO2 permits under the EU’s emissions trading scheme too, because of its heavy reliance on coal.
Under the system, companies receive or buy emissions allowances and then trade them.
The EU carbon price is currently trading at around €61 per tonne and is also partly behind the surge in Spanish electricity costs. “Only about one fifth of the price increase can be attributed to CO2 prices rising,” said Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s vice-president in charge of climate issues.