Sánchez promises to lower taxes to put the brakes on rising electricity prices
Tuesday, September 14, 2021 @ 3:18 PM
The Council of Ministers will approve new measures today to try to stop the rise in electricity bills due to the record prices that electricity has been reaching in the wholesale market for weeks now.
The news was broken on Monday night by President Sánchez in an interview with TVE, where he outlined that the suspension of the energy generation tax (7%) will be extended until the end of the year and that special tax will be reduced from 5.1 to 0,5%, "the minimum required by EU law".
Sánchez added that it is not "acceptable" that electricity companies are reaping "extraordinary benefits", which is why he also intends to "cap gas bills" before the expected price rise over the coming months. "[Companies] can afford it, here we all have to make an effort," insisted the president.
In addition, Sánchez pointed out that "a distinction must be made" between the price of energy in the markets - where "no government has the legal capacity to act" - and the impact of the market on electricity bills - where the wholesale price can have an impact of between 20 and 30%.
He also claimed that, until now, the government had tried to lower electricity prices with structural reforms - promoting renewable energy sources, protecting the most vulnerable families by not allowing supplies to be cut off due to non-payment, and reducing taxes such as VAT and generation tax – and has asked Congress to expedite the measures pending parliamentary endorsement.
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