ELECTRICITY PRICE PROTESTS

News

Staff Reporter / 2011-01-14 10:39:25

More than 30,000 people have signed an electronic petition brought together by the consumer association FACAU, to complain to the Spanish government about the disproportionate rise in the cost of domestic electricity that was implemented in January of this year.

The association has drafted a letter to the President of the government, which complains about the overall operation of the supply of electricity to homes, from the privatization of the network to the overpriced wholesale rate that has caused this most recent increase.

The cost to an average home has already increased by up to 50% over the past 4 years, which many believe is unfair, especially under the recent financial burden that families are facing.

With the increase that has just been implemented, it is thought that the cost of electricity to an average home will increase by over 80 euro per year. This is an additional increase that the consumer association considers to be unfair and have stated that they have a duty to represent the needs of the end consumer and will do anything in their power to protect those most vulnerable.

Each monthly bill will rise an average of 6.77 euro, taking into account the retail price increase as well as tax and IVA, which is more than double the 3.20 euro increase that was announced by the government, who decided not to publish their figures publicly.

The consumer association monitored some 50,000 electric bills to work out the average increase, which they then based on a calculation of contracted capacity of 4.4 kW and a monthly consumption of 366 kWh.