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ENERGY

‘It’s a joke’: Spain slams EU gas price cap

The Spanish government on Wednesday lambasted the European Commission's proposed price cap on wholesale natural gas, set so high that critics have questioned if it would ever be used.

Published: 24 November 2022 09:21 CET
TERESA-RIBERA-SPAIN-EU-GAS-PRICE-CAP
Spanish ecological transition minister Teresa Ribera called the commission's proposal a "joke", saying it would cause steeper price hikes and hamper efforts to tame decades-high inflation. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP)

The EU executive on Tuesday unveiled a gas “safety ceiling” of €275 per megawatt hour as the bloc grapples with high energy prices spurred by Moscow’s war in Ukraine and supply cuts.

But the conditions meant the cap would only kick in when EU gas prices breach that threshold for two weeks running, calculated on advance purchases through the bloc’s main gas price benchmark, TTF.

The cap was also contingent on the TTF price for liquefied natural gas – an easily transportable form of gas that can be shipped worldwide — exceeding €58 for 10 days within that same two-week period.

The only time the TTF gas price has gone above the €275 limit was between August 22nd and 29th this year.

It was running at around €120 in trading on Tuesday.

Spanish ecological transition minister Teresa Ribera called the commission’s proposal a “joke”, saying it would cause steeper price hikes and hamper efforts to tame decades-high inflation.

The French energy transition ministry criticised an “insufficient” scheme that “does not respond to the reality of the market”.

“The commission must propose an operational text, not simply a text that is political grandstanding and may have negative or no effects,” it said.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has also expressed his opposition to the plan, with Ribera saying most EU members were against it as the bloc’s energy ministers prepare to meet on Thursday.

Spain could stop supporting other proposals on matters important to the commission if another “serious” text is not forthcoming, Ribera added.

A commission spokeswoman said the mechanism was designed “to anticipate and prevent this situation happening in the future”, but admitted even August’s price spike would not have triggered it.

The cap, if adopted, would come into force in January and came after months of wrangling between EU countries.

It runs alongside a plan by member states to voluntarily cut natural gas use by 15 percent over the northern hemisphere winter.

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PROPERTY

Too hot or too cold: Spain’s homes struggle to keep comfortable temperatures

Amid rising temperatures and more extreme weather, new data reveals that a significant proportion of Spaniards are struggling to keep their homes at comfortable temperatures during the winter and summer months.

Published: 14 May 2024 09:51 CEST
Too hot or too cold: Spain's homes struggle to keep comfortable temperatures

Spaniards are increasingly finding it difficult to keep their houses at comfortable temperatures during the summers and winters, and the problem has grown markedly over the last decade.

This follows new data released from Living Conditions Survey recently published by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE), which revealed that over a quarter of families in Spain struggle to heat their homes sufficiently in winter and that a third are too hot in summer.

The percentage of households reporting difficulties in keeping their homes at a comfortable temperature has increased by almost ten percent overall in the last decade.

READ ALSO: Why are Spanish homes so cold?

In the colder months, the proportion that say they can’t keep their property sufficiently warm during winter has grown from 17.9 percent in 2012 to 27.5 percent in 2023.

The summer heat poses an even greater problem for Spaniards. The percentage of households struggling to keep their homes cool enough during the summer months has risen from a quarter (24.8 percent) to over a third (33.6).

READ ALSO: Ten ways to protect your Spanish property against the summer heat

This comes as Spain faces record breaking temperatures year round and rising energy costs. According to Spain’s State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), 2023 was the third hottest summer since records began, surpassed only by 2022 and 2003.

In summer 2023 alone, four official heat waves were recorded, lasting a total of 24 days.

READ ALSO: How the right orientation of your Spanish home can save you hundreds on energy bills

However, though rising temperatures clearly play a role, so too does geography, income, and poor energy efficiency caused by poor insulation.

Murcia is the region where the highest proportion of households have problems keeping their homes cool in the summer, with almost half of families polled saying they are in this situation (46.6 percent). Murcia was followed by Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, Aragón and Extremadura, where the figure is 36 percent.

At the other extreme, in the cooler, northern regions of Asturias, Cantabria and Galicia, it is not even 20 percent.

Despite that, it is also the southern regions that struggle the most with keeping their houses warm enough during the winter. Murcia is once again the region where the highest percentage of families are unable to keep their homes at an adequate temperature over the colder months.

40.1 percent of Murcianos say they find it difficult to heat their homes over winter. In Andalusia and Extremadura the figure is almost 35 percent, the other two regions that top the list, meaning the three most southern regions of Spain came out on top.

In contrast, in Navarre, Castilla y León​​, and the Basque Country, less than a fifth (20 percent) of households report problems maintaining a sufficiently warm temperature at home during winter.

Household income also factors into this problem. INE data shows that the proportion of households struggling to maintain an adequate temperature in their homes increases as average income decreases. Among families with the lowest income levels, 38.9 percent say that they are cold in winter and 41.3 percent say that they are too hot in summer.

Of the regions that struggle to keep their homes warm or cool enough, Murcia, Andalusia and Extremadura all have some of the lowest median per capita incomes in the whole country, along with some of the highest levels of poverty.

Equally, the parts of the country where this seems to be less of a problem, such as the Basque Country, Galicia, and Navarre, are some of the wealthiest regions of Spain.

Housing quality and insulation also contribute to poor energy efficiency, which in turn makes temperature control more difficult. Even among households with high incomes, 15 percent say that they are unable to heat their property sufficiently in winter and 24.8 percent struggle to keep it cool enough in summer.

According to INE data, a quarter (25.1 percent) of Spanish households have not made any improvements to their thermal insulation or heating system in the last year, significantly more than the 14.1 percent who have been able to make changes.

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