OCU considers insufficient measures to reduce the light proposed by the government

OCU welcomes new proposals that encourage competition such as the one raised for the gas market, but considers them insufficient to limit increases in the price of light in a situation such as the current one.

OCU considers it is urgent:

Promote competitiveness in the gas market,

Facilitate the entry of new operators,

Reduce the costs of generating combined cycle plants.

In OCU's opinion there will hardly be a significant reduction in the price of light in periods such as the current one without changes in the system. It should not be forgotten that the wholesale market of light fixes the price with a marginal system, which consists of fixing as price of light for each hour of the day. This in practical terms implies that the fixed price is the one that has to be paid to the most inefficient (more expensive) technology to cover the demand in that schedule. In this way, the most efficient technologies, which have low generation costs, always obtain an extraordinary remuneration thanks to the most expensive technologies.

OCU insists that this electricity market, with its current configuration, requires strict supervision, and therefore calls for the CNMC to investigate the current situation.

OCU believes that in order to achieve a more efficient market with lower prices, additional measures are needed to address this system more comprehensively and to rethink many of the current costs of the electricity system: Revision of access tariffs so that they cease to be the drawer of Tailor of all sorts of compensations and adjustments and that in addition they should not always be attributed to the electrical system:

1) Review of the access tariffs so that they cease to be the tailor's box of all sorts of compensations and adjustments and that in addition they should not always be attributed to the electrical system.

2) Review of concepts such as interruptibility, which could be currently being used to reduce electricity demand.

3) Reduced tax rates for a basic service. 

4) Revision of the Electricity Tax, which has kept its amount for years despite the reduction of the costs that justified it.

5) Review of the distribution of tolls, which are mainly borne by small consumers, despite the change in the nature of tolls in recent years. 

6) And how not a major revision of the price system in the wholesale market. In which the marginal price system is revised to introduce correctors that link the remuneration that each technology receives with the actual costs that each generator has. The argument of letting competition work is not convincing in a market like the electric that is full of adjustment mechanisms such as capacity payments but none of them intervene in these periods of price escalations.