The Government will approve this Tuesday its contingency plan to save energy

MADRID, 9 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Government will approve in the Council of Ministers on Tuesday the contingency plan to address energy savings this autumn/winter in the current context of the energy crisis due to the tension with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge is finalizing the plan and it is expected to be approved as soon as possible, as indicated to Europa Press in ministerial sources.

The Executive has already delayed the plan on two occasions due, last week, to the fact that the Third Vice President of the Government and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, decided to wait to know the result of the European Energy Council, and , this one, by the approval of the General State Budgets (PGE) for 2023.

Initially, the plan is expected to set out a series of recommendations to facilitate energy saving and efficiency, although cuts in supply will not be contemplated in any case.

The natural gas savings that this plan will collect for Spain will be somewhat lower than that foreseen in the initial commitment with Brussels, which was 7%, remaining at 6.4%.

Over the last few months, Teresa Ribera has held a round of talks with the main sectoral, social, political and civil society agents to analyze the situation and collect proposals that help Spain reduce its gas consumption, in accordance with the commitment made in the European framework.

In this regard, at the end of last month, the Energy Sector Conference, chaired by Ribera herself, informed the autonomous communities about the progress made in drawing up the contingency plan.

The Ministry has worked in recent months on the preparation of a strategic document that responds to the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At the same time, the plan is designed for a new stage in the field of energy in the EU and will accelerate a change in the energy model based on renewables, the electrification of the economy, savings and efficiency.

These new measures will be added to those that were already approved at the beginning of August to promote energy saving and efficiency, such as limiting the temperature to 27 degrees in summer and 19 in winter in shops, cinemas, hotels and public buildings; or the turning off of shop windows at ten o'clock at night or the automatic closing of doors.

The Executive has ruled out gas and electricity cuts for this autumn/winter due to lack of supply, due to the significant diversification and network of regasification plants in Spain.