The new Minister of Industry, José Manuel Soria, is not starting off with good judgment. The outgoing Partido Popular (PP) team and Miguel Sebastián's team have devised a legal trick in order to freeze prices on natural gas for home consumers. Eventually, there will be a rise in price for this kind of energy to make up for the deferred bills.
According to sources consulted by elEconomista, the federal government is following a similar procedure for power bills and will not raise costs for citizens thanks to a discounts on basic materials and a trick that defers earnings shortages accumulated this year by putting them on receipts for January, 2012.
The Minister of Industry has already sent the National Energy Commission a draft of a natural gas annual report. In this report, the outgoing director general of Energy, Fabrizio Hernández, proposes a 4% increase to regulated costs.
Sources consulted by elEconomista report that if companies on the free market have to incur this additional expense, it will be compensated for by falling prices in basic materials and will allow the tariff to stay completely flat or slightly higher.
