Senator Rollán warns that discriminating against companies with cogeneration endangers 200,000 jobs
The People’s Party (PP) has demanded this Saturday that the Government reformulate the aid to compensate for the cap on gas to companies and introduce the possibility that those that operate partially with cogeneration can also benefit. This has been stated from an act in Palencia by the senator and spokesman for the commission of the Community of Madrid, Pedro Rollan, which has warned that otherwise 600 industries and 200,000 jobs are at risk of disappearing. More than 60% of cogeneration has stopped in recent months because, according to estimates from the employers’ association Acogen, continuing to produce electricity has ceased to be profitable due to the rise in gas prices and because the Government does not take measures to guarantee that the plants cover costs.
The gas price cap mechanism -better known as the ‘Iberian exception’- to produce electricity has been activated since June and includes compensation for electricity companies with gas plants (combined cycles) to cover their real costs in full spiral of rise in international gas prices. However, the cogeneration plants -which produce two types of energy from the same source- do not receive this compensation, which has meant that only a third of them continue to operate, which are forced to continue operating if they do not want also paralyze all industrial production.
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From the PP they have warned that the situation of companies in sectors such as ceramics, paper, chemicals, meat, automobiles or metal, is “especially worrying” for which some have already announced that they are stopping their activity due to to the lack of competitiveness and “are doomed to closure”. “The Government cannot say that it is not aware of this agony & rdquor ;, Rollán has asserted.
The PP thus closes ranks with the employers of the sector, Acogen, which, given the current situation, is preparing a battle in the courts in Spain and in the European Union, which may end up in the presentation of hundreds of lawsuits for damages by the affected companies.