Spain and Portugal have been «optimistic» on Wednesday after the first contact with Brussels with a view to extending the ‘Iberian exception’ and that Spain wants it to be extended with a cap similar to the current one, between 45 and 50 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), from which both countries want to continue to benefit.
This was stated by the delegations of both countries after a meeting lasting more than an hour and a half between the third vice-president of the Government and Minister of Ecological Transition and for the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera; the Minister of Environment and Climate Action of Portugal, Duarte Cordeiro, and the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager.
In this meeting, the three parties have analyzed the functioning of the ‘Iberian exception’, while now it will be up to the technical teams to analyze the possible extension of the mechanism for a possible next meeting, yet to be fixed, according to diplomatic sources.
In this sense, the price and the conditions of the extension are still to be fixed, while the reception by Commissioner Vestager has been, for both countries, «positive» and in a «constructive» climate.
Both Ribera and her Portuguese counterpart have coincided in underlining the «success» of the Iberian mechanism since it came into operation and which has allowed Spanish consumers to save 4,577 million euros up to January 8, according to Ministry sources.
The ‘Iberian exception’, which has been applied in Spain and Portugal since June 15, is a mechanism that caps the price of gas for electricity generation in order to reduce the price of electricity. During the first six months of this measure, the price of gas was capped at 40 euros/MWh and from then on, it is increased by five euros/MWh per month until May, when the ‘Iberian’ solution comes to an end.
From now on, it will be up to the technical teams of the European Commission to carry out the analysis work for the extension of the Iberian solution.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
