Unidas Podemos demands more measures from the Government to make it easier for consumers to switch to the rate of last resort

November 13 () –

Unidas Podemos has registered an initiative in the Congress of Deputies demanding that the Executive branch redouble its efforts to make it easier for consumers who meet the requirements to adhere to the ‘last resort rate’ for gas, which is regulated by the Administration for households with a consumption of less than 50,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year.

This is stated in a non-legal proposal (PNL) promoted by the deputy for En Comú Podem Laura López, registered for debate in the Congressional Health and Consumer Commission.

The initiative, collected by Europa Press, urges the Executive to promote awareness of this regulated rate through various resources, such as giving visible information about this possibility in the invoices sent to consumers.

It also calls for carrying out “as many measures as possible to guarantee the right of consumers to adhere to the ‘Tariffs of Last Resort’ for gas” and reinforce the rights of customers, speeding up the procedures for rate changes.

In the explanatory statement of her PNL, the parliamentarian alludes to the fact that the strong changes in the energy market in recent months have put “thousands of Spanish consumers at risk of energy poverty”.

In this way, he emphasizes that among the measures promoted by the Government to deal with the rise in energy is the extension of the application of the limitation of the rate of last resort for individual consumers with a consumption of less than 50,000 kilowatts per hour per year. until the end of 2023, allowing a “temporary exception” for communities of owners that use central heating (6.6% of the homes that exist in Spain according to INE data), which exceed these levels of consumption.

COLLAPSE OF TRADING COMPANIES

The initiative of the confederal group argues that the great difference in prices between the regulated rate and the free market rates has led consumers to switch massively from one rate to the other. In this scenario, the response of the marketers that still have the option of regulated rates has collapsed due to the large number of people demanding this change.

“This has caused a saturation in the efforts to make the changes of company and rate that must be resolved immediately,” reasons the proposal of the confederal space.

Therefore, and understanding that the escalation of prices will continue to increase, and that this will have a “deeper impact on the less favored classes”, Unidas Podemos defends that the rate of last resort is presented as “a social containment tool that must be promoted from public but also private sectors.