The Government’s latest parliamentary failure will have an immediate effect on the energy market. Yesterday’s rejection in Congress of PP, Vox and Junts of the approval of the so-called omnibus decree also implies end the ban on cutting off water, electricity or gas to households in vulnerable situations, a measure that the Council of Ministers had agreed to extend until the end of 2025.
The situation now opens the door to the interruption of basic supplies for 1.8 million vulnerable households a segment that has been growing steadily in recent years in the context of the inflationary crisis. In detail, the number of vulnerable consumers registered for this year is 6.7% higher than that of 2024 and 18% higher than that reached in 2023, according to the records of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC). .
The news arrives in the midst of review of the National Strategy Against Energy Poverty a procedure that the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen announced just a week ago. Precisely, within the framework of this announcement, the portfolio boasted of having carried out the extension of the veto on supply cuts, as well as of reinforcing the reductions in the bills of consumers covered by the electric and thermal social bonus (electricity and gas).
One of the demands that the main consumer organizations, such as Facua and OCU, conveyed to Aagesen with more insistence in the meeting that gave shape to the update of the national strategy was to prohibit structurally, and not temporarily as until now, electricity and gas cuts to vulnerable families, according to knowledgeable sources. The Secretary of State for Energy, Jto Groizardhas insisted today in his X profile that the department will continue working on the new energy poverty strategy, “although from today with fewer tools.”
The horizon for reductions in the social bond has also remained a dead letter after Wednesday’s parliamentary debacle. Originally, the social bonus discounts were set at 25% for vulnerable consumers and 40% for the severely vulnerable. In the context of the Ukraine crisis, the Government improved them to 65% and 80%, respectively.
Instead of returning to its initial values, the Executive had decided extend exceptional discounts until the end of 2025a measure that cannot be applied either after the failure of the omnibus decree. According to Ecological Transition sources, the new evolution will be as follows. From July 1, the reduction will be 35% for vulnerable people and 50% for severely vulnerable people, compared to the 42.5% for vulnerable people and 57.5% for severely vulnerable people established in the failed decree. In summary, the new structural values will be reached six months ahead of schedule, eliminating the grace period that the Executive had marked in order to speed up the exceptional discounts as much as possible.
Rise of light to the industry
The rejection of the decree, by 177 noes against 171 if it isthere has also been a substantial reduction in the electricity bill of the large electricity-intensive industry, whose activity is highly exposed to electricity consumption. For these sectors, such as chemistry, metallurgy or paper; The electricity bill is usually around 40% of the total cost of your production process.
The Government included in that mixed bag the extension of the 80% reduction in electricity tolls – part of the electricity bill that is intended to cover the cost of the networks – for the entire current year. The end of the measure will imply an increase in the electricity bill of 5% for these companies, according to calculations by the Association of Companies with Large Energy Consumption (Aege).