Electricity price hikes expected on April 1

SPAIN We told you about the price hike last week but here is the reason behind it, and the percentages. The electric companies' association, Unesa, says that the peajes should be going up by 30%, which would amount to about 15% on our electricity bill. The Supreme Court sided with the companies and ordered the price hike that should have taken place on January 1 to happen as soon as possible. However, the peaje and the price the companies have to pay for the energy have come down, which means that the bills should not go up by more than 12 or 13%. The Spanish power system is so convoluted and complicated to explain that we are not bothering to do so, but way of a general concept you should know that, first, what is called a Tarifa de Último Recurso (TUR, or 'tariff of last resort') and to which some 20 million consumers -that is, the vast majority including us- are subscribed, and which is revised every three months, is made up of two components: the peajes that pay the companies and are regulated by the government, and, second, the price of energy that results from an auction called Cesur (please don't ask, just accept!).

Protest against Arcgisa charges rise

Arcgisa HQ, Los Barrios

JIMENA The Plataforma de Parados (Unemployed 'platform', or group) announced recently that it planning to organize a protest, including signed petitions, against an imminent price rise in charges from Arcgisa, the Mancomunidad company that provides water, sewage, street cleaning and rubbish collection. The organization considers the rises 'abusive' and impacting directly on 'families, and especially, the unemployed'. The campaign is to be titled Di que no (Say No). The Plataforma has been contacting all political parties with a view to protest against something they consider 'inappropriate for the times we live in.' The brief story behind Arcgisa is as follows:>>>

Electricity could go up by 10% in January

SPAIN (Agencies) The Tarifa de Último Recurso (TUR in its Spanish acronym, meaning 'Tariff of Last Recourse'), whatever that is but which is part of the consumer cost of electricity, could be going up by 9.9% in January, according to the National Energy Commission. This has to do with the price paid at the last auction of 'product', i.e. electricity, held among suppliers. A convoluted press release from the commission yesterday (for which an engineering degree is clearly necessary) also said that even with this possible (probable?) increase, power in Spain will still be cheaper than other European countries such as Italia (€67 per MWh, MegaWatt/hour), France (57), Germany (52) and UK (60). What it did not add is that wages and pensions in Spain are on the average well below these countries... (This item also appears in CampoPulse, but have you missed anything else?)