The Council of Ministers could approve a major cutback to renewable energies today. Laws within the industry, according to a report given by the National Energy Commission in March 2012 outlining plans to trim the tariff deficit, will attempt to keep energy costs from rising alongside a growing Consumer Price Index.
Updates will still be made for variable costs that depend fundamentally on several services such as operations, maintenance or security that flex with changing prices. It doesn't make sense to keep the consumer price index for investment costs, which in the case of wind farms or photovoltaic plants represent 85% of their total. Given that tariffs and premiums are calculated annually based on the rates of the year before, the measures will have an accumulative economic impact estimated at 3 billion euros over the course of five years. It is very likely that companies within the energy sector will reject the measure. They are now paying for years of uncontrolled growth and mismanagement of energy tariffs and premiums.
Solar power technology is the best example. The sector has already received as much money as the rest of the power sector in Spain. This imbalance translates to higher costs for consumers who are seeing their power bills spike so that the industry can trim the tariff deficit. Filling this hole without putting most of the burden on consumers, demands cooperation from companies within the sector.
