The electricity bill of Congress skyrockets and forces the use of an extra item of 3.7 million

The Chamber emphasizes that consumption is similar to that of the previous year and that the problem has been the rise in price

MADRID, 2 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Congress of Deputies calculates that its electricity bill is expected to triple this year and has been forced to approve an extra item of 3.72 million euros to be able to pay for electricity, money that will come out of the Chamber's surplus account. In this context, the institution estimates that in 2023 the cost of electricity supply will increase by 294%, which is why it has already increased the corresponding budget item.

Specifically, in its Budget for the current year, the Chamber reserved 1.75 million for the electricity bill but last June, when seeing how the price had skyrocketed, it decided to authorize an increase in spending amounting to 3 .72 million. That money came from the Chamber's surplus account, which as of March 31, 2021, the closing date of the 2020 financial year, had 104.98 million.

This is stated in the documentation that accompanies the Congress Budget for 2023 that the Congress Table approved last Thursday, and to which Europa Press has had access.

In the accounts of the Chamber for the coming year, the chapter for current expenses in goods and services amounts to 45.41 million euros, 20.63% more than the previous year, when 37.64 million were budgeted.

The increase is explained by this increase in the price of electricity and also of gas, since consumption has remained in similar terms. Specifically, the forecast is that the electricity bill will increase by 294.26% and that what is paid for the consumption of more will rise by 77.78%.

Parallel to the energy saving measures approved last summer by the Government --which include, for example, turning off the exterior lighting of the Puerta de los Leones---, in July Congress launched its own plan for an energy efficiency plan energy and environmental sustainability.

Thus, it decided to moderate the use of air conditioning in its facilities, make better use of natural lighting, replace fluorescent and halogen lights with LED-type lights and reduce lighting in spaces that are not in use.

In total, the Congress Budget for next year will amount to 110.42 million euros, 10.78% higher than the 99.67 million this year.

Almost half of it corresponds to personnel expenses (50.45 million), an item that grows by 5.98% since it includes a possible increase of 3.5% in the salary of the deputies and the staff of the Chamber and to the increase of the concept of Social Action linked to the new Regulations of social benefits for the employees of the institution.

3.5% is the percentage increase that the Government has offered to public employees, but once the Treasury and Public Service seal an agreement with the unions, Congress will apply the agreed increase.

As parliamentary sources have informed Europa Press, the PP and Vox justified their vote against the Budget on Thursday with the argument that it was still unknown how much these remunerations will finally increase. In parallel, both Vox and Ciudadanos (who have no representation on the Table) have already publicly made clear their opposition to raising the salary of their lordships.

Congress unilaterally approves its budgets, in accordance with the parliamentary autonomy enshrined in article 72 of the Constitution, and sends them to the Government for inclusion in the future General State Budget Bill of 2023, which will subsequently be processed by both Chambers in accordance with the constitutional and statutorily established procedure.