Sanchez announces that industries with large gas consumption will be protected by the Iberian exception as requested by Feijóo

Industries with a large consumption of gas will be protected by the cap on gas imposed by the so-called Iberian exception. This was announced by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in the appearance that he carried out this Tuesday in the Senate, where he faces the first face-to-face debate with Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the main opposition party, the Partido Popular. Precisely, the Galician leader had proposed aid for the industries that the president has now promised to protect, a request that had also been launched by the Aragonese president Javier Lambán and the industry itself, according to Moncloa. “We are going to approve an exception for the installations of cogeneration of industries with large gas consumption and to allow them to be temporarily covered by the Iberian mechanism”, declared the President during his speech. Sources from the Ministry of Ecological Transition point out that the measure will “guarantee” employment and activity benefiting sectors that contribute up to 20% of the industrial Gross Domestic Product (GDP). “They are key for many territories, as is the case of ceramics, bricks, chemicals or textiles,” they add. The same sources point out that the measure may also increase gas savings in the country, something “priority” for meet European targets. A cogeneration plant, as they explain, produces heat and electricity “in a more efficient way” than if it generates heat on the one hand and electricity on the other, reaching savings of 10%. In this sense, from Moncloa they also assure that cogeneration has traditionally produced 10% of Spanish electricity. However, the increase in gas prices has forced many companies to stop, so cogeneration electricity production has fallen by 60%, which the Executive intends to alleviate with a ministerial order that increases their regulated remuneration by more than 1,000 million euros. For its part, from the PP they have celebrated the president’s announcement and have appropriated the idea. “Sánchez finds inspiration in our measures again,” sources from the conservative formation have pointed out, adding that they are “delighted to help the Government” and go further to ask them “to continue copying the PP’s economic plans by deflating personal income tax to the medium and low incomes to face the effects of inflation”. Moncloa, however, deny that it is a measure proposed by the ‘popular’ and say that it has been “long claimed by the sector.” Vice President Teresa Ribera, they argue, already announced this step to the sector on September 2.