Large industry demands that the Government provide up to 650 million euros in aid to lower their electricity bill

2023-12-04 08:05:55

The big industry has been demanding more from the Government for years direct aid to reduce the impact of high electricity prices in its profitability and in its competitiveness against its European rivals. Large industrial groups benefit every year from a compensation system for part of the costs of indirect emissions of CO2but the companies consider that in recent years the amounts allocated have been insufficient and now they demand to increase the amounts for next year.

The General State Budgets (PGE) for 2023 contemplated a game of 244 million of euros for this aid, equaling the amount distributed the previous year. The Government intends to extend the PGE temporarily, at least for a few months, until new Budgets for 2024 can be approved now that the new legislature has begun. So initially the amount to compensate for indirect CO2 emissions will continue to be 244 million for the next year, pending new public accounts.

The Association of Large Energy Consumption Companies (AEGE) assures that this year they would have actually received aid of 450 million euros given the high prices of CO2 emissions rights and within the budgetary margins that the EU imposes on this type of aid. And the employers’ association of electro-intensive industrial groups, which brings together around thirty industrial giants such as ArcelorMittal, Acerinox, Sidenor, Ferroatlántica or Tubos Reunidosdemands that the Ministry of Industry increase aid to 650 million in 2024as confirmed by the general director of the association, Pedro González, to EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA.

Large industry paralyzes its massive purchase of electricity and will give it up if the Government does not lift obstacles

Brussels opens its hand

According to community regulation, these compensations can cover up to 75% of the indirect CO2 costs of electro-intensive companies and a maximum of 25% of each country’s income from emission rights auctions can be allocated to finance the program (this year Spain will raise around 3,500 million euros). AGE considers that the current prices of emission rights (around 83 euros per ton on average, more than double that before the pandemic) and the forecast that they will continue to rise in the coming years (up to 90 euros) justify a upward review of Spanish aid.

The European Commission has just approved a review of the Spanish Government’s aid plan for an entire decade. The previous plan contemplated 2.9 billion euros to offset part of the costs of emissions indirect CO2 emissions between 2021 and 2030, in the new program Brussels will now allow Spain to allocate a maximum of 8,510 million between 2022 and 2031. With these new budget ceilings, and given the rise in CO2 prices, the employers of the large electro-intensive industry see their claim to almost triple the amount of aid for next year justified.

“The numbers that were made for the previous aid plan were insufficient. “They were not consistent with reality,” says González, who celebrates the raising of the ceilings on the amount of aid allowed by Brussels, but warns that in previous years the maximums allowed by the EU and the aid distributed by the EU have not even been reached. The Government has always fallen short, arguing lack of budget availability.

“Once the aid path has been updated by the European Commission, AEGE trusts that the Government will agree to the effective update of the pending amounts for the current year, as well as those for future years, to avoid increasing the competitive gap faced by the industries, thus allowing the comparison with the“Competitors from neighboring countries that are benefiting from the maximum allowed in aid,” The employers’ association of electro-intensive patients points out in a statement this week.

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In parallel, the business association asks the Executive to extend until 2024 other exceptional measures adopted to combat the effects of the energy crisis and which expire on December 31. As part of the extraordinary measures to alleviate the impact of the increase in electricity and that have a direct impact on large industry, The Government applies a temporary reduction of 80% of the tolls paid by hundreds of electro-intensive companies on their electricity bill and the application of the 7% tax on electricity generation has also been suspended. The Executive will decide in the coming weeks whether to maintain these and other social shield measures for companies and citizens against the rise in energy prices.