THE WEATHER
Edition 306
www.thecourier.es
Friday 27th January 2017
ELECTRIC SHOCKER
R
ecent electricity price hikes are to be investigated by prosecutors at Spain's Supreme Court. The prosecutors want to find out the reason for the 'successive increases' in household electricity bills 'in the interests of consumer protection', using the Law of Civil
Judgement, which allows courts to instigate reviews themselves of decisions that may go against the public interest. In the last few weeks, domestic electricity prices have gone up to levels of three years ago, and the National Markets and Competition Commission
(CNMC) is investigating the matter to see whether providers are operating an illegal monopoly, whilst the Minister of Energy and Tourism, Álvaro Nadal (pictured), is also looking into the matter, after being pressurised by opposition political parties and consumer groups. Electricity use is said to have more than doubled last week after a cold blast of snow and wind hit the Costa Blanca and Murcia areas. Álvaro Nadal says the recent hikes have been caused by ironically a lack of wind as well as rain, both of which generate electricity very cheaply. Providers have had to resort to combined power sources such as fossil fuel and natural gas, which are far more expensive, Nadal commented. Nadal also announced recently that he plans to increase competition in the
gas supply market in order to achieve better prices for end consumers, which would generate the knockon effect of bringing down electricity bills where utility boards had to use gas to create power. Current electricity prices sit at 88 euro per megawatt (MWh) per hour, having already risen in the past year to 85.79 euro per MWh. Electricity reached a record high of 91.89 euro per MWh in mid-December 2013 at off-peak times and 98.69 euro at peak times. The price of actual power to domestic customers is only around 35 percent of their bills, with 40 percent being the standing charge and 25 percent taxes and charges, meaning that cutting electricity usage doesn’t necessarily result in big financial savings. The government has frozen electricity standing charges and taxes for 2017.
Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers in the afternoon. Thunder possible. High 16ºC. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 km/h. Chance of rain: 40% Some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight. Low 9ºC. Winds W at 15 to 30 km/h. Winds could occasionally gust over 65 km/h.
See page 2 for the week´s forecast