The CEOE yesterday reopened the controversy over the electric social bond, help in the form of a reduction in the electricity bill that is applied to vulnerable consumers. He Institute of Economic Studies (IEE)he think tank of the employers, defended yesterday new changes in this bonus that, in the eyes of the institution, promotes the “waste” of electricity among the beneficiaries of the aid. As an alternative, the IEE suggests replacing the current mechanism with a check that vulnerable consumers can use to pay for electricity or to pay for any other item in the shopping basket.
“The current design of the electric social bond gives beneficiaries a false sense of abundance of electricitywhen these consumers see a lower price on their bills than the one that reflects the true scarcity of energy, which leads to a greater consumption of this product”, diagnoses the IEE in its report Good regulatory practices. A proposal for the Spanish electricity sector presented yesterday.
To counteract this effect, the institution proposes a system of direct aid in the form of a annual or monthly checkswhose amount would be attached to the compensation provided for a certain level of electricity consumption and “according to the characteristics of each family group”.
“Under the new scheme, eligible consumers would see the real price of electricity and would be free to allocate the amount of the check to the consumption of any good. This avoids distortions in consumption decisions between the different goods in the basket of the purchase of these families, the false sensation of abundant electricity is eliminated and waste is discouraged in energy consumption”, concludes the document from the CEOE ideas laboratory, which does not go into detailing what criteria it would apply to define the figure of vulnerable consumer.
The social bonus is a discount that electricity resellers apply directly to the electricity bill of vulnerable and severely vulnerable consumers. These must meet a series of requirements set by law, mainly income criteria (including pensioners below an income ceiling). Another option is to prove the condition of a large family, which gives direct right to the bonus. Although the latter can waive aid if they consider it appropriate, the Minister for Ecological TransitionTeresa Riberaannounced a few months ago its intention to introduce income criteria also for large families, an adjustment that has been left in the air as a result of the electoral advance.