The proposal passed with the support of the People’s Party and Vox, and opposition from the PSOE and IU on all its points. CHA voted against “extending the operating life of nuclear power plants,” abstained on the points concerning tax reductions, and voted in favor of “reformulating the PVPC” and “speeding up renewable energy installations.”
The initiative argued that the average electricity bill has risen by nearly 25% compared with last summer, while the wholesale price of electricity has exceeded 100 euros per megawatt-hour and continues to show high levels of volatility.
THE PEOPLE’S PARTY CALLS FOR MEASURES FOR HOUSEHOLDS
People’s Party economic affairs spokesman Juan Pablo Artero, who defended the initiative, warned that “many families are bearing a significant increase in their energy costs at a time when the cost of living remains high.”
In this regard, Artero said that “the measures adopted so far by the Spanish government have proved insufficient to cushion the impact of the increases, and it is necessary to act more forcefully to protect consumers.”
The People’s Party lawmaker explained that the increase in prices was the result of a combination of several factors. These included wholesale price trends, increased electricity demand during periods of high temperatures, higher system costs and the reinstatement of certain taxes that directly affect the final bill.
Artero defended the need to adopt measures in both the short and medium term. “It is essential to immediately ease the financial burden borne by households, but also to move toward a more stable, competitive energy system that is less exposed to market fluctuations,” he said.
The PSOE and IU criticized the People’s Party for proposing measures that have already been implemented and that they themselves had criticized. Meanwhile, CHA lawmaker Miguel Jaime said they shared part of the initiative’s diagnosis, but believed that “the response cannot simply be to lower taxes every time electricity prices soar,” nor were nuclear power plants the solution.
