Fernando Soto (AEGE), on the gas ceiling: “A Frenchman is going to pay less than a Spaniard”

In recent months, large industries (AEGE) have suffered the consequences of power surges. Historical receipts that have led to a halt in its production. Now, while awaiting European guarantees for gas ceilings, and with electricity prices above 200 euros/MW, Fernando Soto, general director of the Association of Companies with Large Energy Consumption, expects the measure’s start-up progress to be many. Dispels doubts that still linger.

How do you assess a measure that seeks to reduce the price of electricity through a cap on gas?

This seems to us to be an interesting measure that we supported and demanded from both the President of the Government and the European Commissioners for Internal Markets and Energy. Our first estimate is a 30% discount to the price we did in the first four months of this year. is an advance. We are talking about 150 EUR/MW, of which 120 or 125 would correspond to the transfer of the price of gas to the price of electricity, plus the sum of the adjustments to compensate for that gas, which we estimate between 25 and 30 Euro/MW. ,

More than one European country is going to try to copy the cap on gas

Six months have passed since the government announced its intention to limit the price of gas, was the measure too late?

– Suppose it comes when the government is able to achieve this, when the Council of Europe has given it the place of setting the Iberian exception. We have had a lot of opposition from the governments of Central and Northern Europe. He did not give his hand to turn until he saw that the situation South was suffering from was also moving towards him. It is true that all this should be taken as an exception, as a temporary mechanism, but there is no doubt that, if it works here, more than one European country will try to copy it.

Will this energy crisis work to improve the power system?

-In a system like the Iberian, where 85% of the energy is non-polluting (nuclear, hydraulic and renewable), it is not fair that the price be contaminated by the price of gas. That is to say, whatever efforts we are making to finance renewable energy (pay premiums) in Spain goes in vain, as the price not only goes down, but also goes up. We therefore demand that extraordinary measures be taken in the energy crisis, as we have been facing since last summer.

It’s been several months since prices skyrocketed, have you felt the support of the government?

We have been seeking help from the government since September last year, which assured us that the power companies are going to give us contracts at a competitive price. Those contracts have not come, and if any have been offered it is anecdotal. Months later, the executive opted for a cap on gas, but that should only be the beginning. There is much to be clarified. To begin with, they have to elaborate on who we are who will pay the compensation.

France is going to export everything it can and is not going to pay the compensation that we Spaniards will pay

-Of course, the Royal Decree raises many doubts, one of them being what will happen with exports to France

According to the document, the French consumer who is going to import as much as possible through this 2,500 MW interconnection is going to do so at the Iberian market price. In other words, it’s not going to pay the 30 euro/MW hour compensation that Spanish consumers pay. I want to understand that this is a text error. Energy crossing the border should be the same price that we are going to pay in Spain or, as an equivalent, the same amount of energy that goes to France, we should be reimbursed at a cost of 42 euros/MW, which That is the price that the government makes the French Gallic industrialist competitive.

– Do you believe that the government will take measures and pay that part of the compensation to France?

I have read the Royal Decree Law and it has become clear to me that the French will not pay (as written). And I ask the government that if there is a mistake, rectify it and if not, then explain. Because transparency is very important here. The fair thing is that there is reciprocity, what we cannot do is ‘quijotes’. We have to fight, the rules should be for everyone, and if we don’t enforce ourselves. The government has to protect its industry.