Families pay half in the regulated gas market

According to the latest data from ERSE – Entidade Regladora dos Serviços Energéticos, out of 1.551 million natural gas consumers in Portugal, 1.324 million are on the free market. And 92% of them are industrial consumers.

This Thursday, the Environment Minister confirmed that prices on the regulated natural gas market will be “less than half” the values ​​applied by Galp and EDP, which on Wednesday announced an increase that will take effect in October.

Duarte Cordeiro spoke at a press conference where he said the government would propose lifting existing legal restrictions to allow families and small businesses access to the regulated natural gas market. This is a measure that will be in effect for a maximum period of 12 months and can cover up to 1.5 million customers.

This was the best way the government found to stop the increase announced by various operators, given the increase in raw materials due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Recall, ERSE has already announced an increase in gas prices on the regulated market since October by 3.9%.

O CM knows that Duarte Cordeiro and Fernando Medina talked about other compensatory mechanisms to reduce gas costs, but no one thought about reducing the VAT, which currently stands at an intermediate rate of 13%. Germany has reduced the VAT rate on gas from 19% to 6% by 2024.