OCU recommends contracting the gas TUR, which can be up to four times lower than the lower market

MADRID, 6 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The annual cost with the regulated natural gas rate (TUR) for an average household can be up to three to four times lower than the free market rates, according to data from the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), which "in the face of the very strong price increases for this winter recommends contracting the TUR to consumers".

Specifically, the association points out that the annual cost with the TUR rate for an average household is 723 euros, compared to 1,516 euros for the best of the free market rates which, "in some cases, can multiply by three and by four its cost".

Given these price differences, OCU recommends that all consumers with an annual consumption of less than 50,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) hire the TUR, to "avoid large bills this winter." All consumers have the right to contract the TUR in any of the four reference marketers and to receive the supply within a maximum period of three weeks.

In those households that, exceptionally, maintain a cheaper rate than the TUR rate -a price less than 0.06 euros/kWh-, it is advisable to ask your retailer for the date on which the price will be revised and be attentive to the communication of the new prices, "which are expected to be higher, to start the change towards the TUR rate".

To facilitate this task, OCU makes its rate comparator available to consumers where they can enter the values ​​of their current rate and make an estimate of the savings they can obtain by contracting the TUR regulated rate.

In October of last year, the Government established a quarterly review of the rate that limits the increase in the price of raw materials to 15% in the formula for calculating the price of gas. This measure means that despite the fact that the TUR will grow in the coming quarters, it will continue to remain below the increase in rates in the free market.

According to OCU data, only 19.12% of the almost eight million gas customers in Spain are covered by the TUR. Many of the clients of the free market, in the first place, do not know what type of market they are in and what rate they are paying.

On the other hand, the association denounces that, although in theory all consumers with a consumption of less than 50,000 kWh can contract the TUR, in practice consumers who belong to a neighborhood community with centralized gas heating cannot law to access the shelter rate, since their hiring is not allowed for these facilities, comparable to industrial ones. And this, although consumers have consumption distribution systems as established by law.

This ban supposes, according to OCU, "a clear discrimination" for the consumers of the affected neighboring communities that will have serious economic consequences.

For this reason, it has asked the Minister of Finance and the Minister for the Ecological Transition to approve "immediately" the necessary measures so that the neighboring communities can benefit from the TUR regulated rate and are not harmed by their exclusion from this rate. , "despite making efficient and responsible use of heating".