The Government hurries the legislature without the sustainability fund to lower the light

The National Fund for the Sustainability of the Electric System (FNSSE) was created with the aim of reduce the electricity bill by 13% in five years and everything indicates that it will not come into operation before the current legislature runs out. Its creation was approved by the Council of Ministers in December 2020 and, in September 2021, it saved its first vote in the Congress of Deputies. However, the energy crisis has left it stranded in the Lower House and no news is expected until the reform of the European electricity market is closed.

Parliamentary sources consulted by La Información recall that the process was planned for before the crisis broke out in the international energy markets and that the subsequent urgent measures undertaken by the Executive, such as the tax reduction on electricity and the start-up of the ‘Iberian exception’, among others, meant that it was not “prudent” to make such far-reaching changes. “Right now We are in the middle of the reform of the electricity market that is to come from Europe, so it is best to wait. It will be resumed based on the reform and what is necessary then will be assessed,” the same sources underline.

The Government hopes that the reform of the electricity ‘pool’ will be closed during the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union, but a long debate is expected. However, even if approved before the end of the year, little room for maneuver he would have to finish the legislature with the fund approved before the general elections to be held in December. Specifically, the FNSSE intends to assume the costs associated with the specific remuneration regime for renewables, cogeneration and waste (Recore) -between 6,500 and 7,000 million euros per year- and remove them from the electricity bill. The Ministry for the Ecological Transition proposed its implementation with a triple objective: avoid increases in the price of electricity, give clear signs of electrification of the economy and provide certainty, sustainability and balance to the system that allows the mobilization of the necessary investments. in the next years.

Remove renewables from the receipt

According to the Government, the fund would reduce the electricity bill by up to 13% in five years after deducting the cost of the premiums for renewable energies from the bill, which would mean a new income for the electricity system that would gradually replace the fixed charges of the Recore electrical system, currently included in the access tolls of the electricity bill. The goal was for the transfer to be 20% the first year, to reach 40% in the second and 60% in the third, until reaching 100% in the fifth year. Settlement 14/2022 of the electricity sector, prepared by the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC), states that the FNSSE would have contributed 213.6 million euros just having applied in the second half of 2022.

Under the current system, It is consumers, whether individuals or companies, who currently bear the costs associated with Recore, and what the Executive intends is that the obligated subjects to finance said mechanism are the marketers of all energy sectors: natural gas and electricity marketing companies, wholesale petroleum product operators, wholesale liquefied petroleum gas operators, wholesalers and direct consumers of the above products. Contributions from the energy sectors would be made through payments proportional to their sales.

In this way, the total collection objective and the distribution among the different obligated subjects would be calculated each year based on the sales estimates communicated by the agents, after deducting the income from other sources of financing, such as taxes or income from CO2 auctions. According to current sales volumes, the sector that should contribute the most to this fund would be oil, followed by electricity and gas. Companies like Repsol, Cepsa or BP are the ones that would suffer the most from the consequences. At the time, in order to guarantee equity and redistribution, they introduced exemptions and compensation for those sectors with less capacity to adapt and respond to the system.

If the FNSSE finally goes ahead as proposed at the time, electricity consumption for storage, agricultural diesel, natural gas for cogeneration and electricity generation, diesel and natural gas for navigation and fishing (except boats) will be exempt from contributing. recreation), as well as the percentage of mixtures of bios in fuels and renewable gases in natural gas. Also, there would be bonuses for possible indirect costs for diesel for professional uses, and the electro-intensive industry and natural gas consumer. Rental vehicles with driver (VTC) were also included among the sectors with exemptions.

On the other hand, The mechanism by which action will be taken on the remuneration of C02 not emitted from the electricity market also continues in Congress, which would have contributed 484 million euros to the electrical system last year, according to settlement 14 of the CNMC. The portfolio headed by Teresa Ribera considers that the generation of energy through non-CO2-emitting power plants (hydraulic and nuclear) receives overremuneration in the wholesale market and wants to use it to cover part of the electricity bill of severely vulnerable consumers at risk of social exclusion, with 10% of the total, while the remaining 90% would be used to finance the costs associated with Recore.

With this draft law, the elimination of the so-called windfall profits for these energy mix technologies was opened. According to the Executive, The measure would mean an annual cut of 1,000 million in the remuneration received by the electric companies. The proposal would not harm any plant after 2005 or those that have a regulated remuneration framework, as well as those that take part in auctions or any present or future investment initiative. Installations of less than 10 MW were also excluded.