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Date Published: 18/08/2022

ARCHIVED - Electricity demand in Spain drops 3.7 per cent with new energy saving measures

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

It’s the first week that air-conditioning temperatures have been restricted in Spain and shop displays switched off at 10pm

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Electricity demand in Spain drops 3.7 per cent with new energy saving measures

During the second week of August, the first full seven days in which the Spanish Government’s energy saving measures were in place, electricity demand across the country dropped by 3.7%. This is just slightly more than half of the 7% consumption the nation is hoping to save, but it’s a strong start, especially considering that it has coincided with the third heatwave of the year.

The Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, who has been spearheading the campaign, praised the “greater sensitivity of homes and companies with respect to the responsible use of energy and the measures of the decree law, which called for a reduction in the temperature of the thermostat and the turning off of the lighting of shop windows and unoccupied public buildings after 10pm".

The response to the energy saving measures, she said, has been "extraordinarily positive" on the whole.

"Only by fulfilling that commitment of voluntary solidarity in these first few months will we be in a position to face the response to Vladimir Putin's energy blackmail in a united way," Ms Ribera added.

For now, the restrictions are limited to public buildings and the government isn’t contemplating imposing limitations on households or private industry, although it does “contemplate measures that favour the process of change in the type of energy consumed." Homeowners have been offered incentives to switch to solar power and urged to check the efficiency of their boilers, among other things.

At the same time, the minister celebrated the success of the slow-to-start Iberian Exception, which put a cap on the price of gas used for electricity generation. Since its introduction two months ago, Ms Ribera estimates that the measure has saved consumers in Spain 1,383 million euros, or 22 million per day.

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