Portugal approves electricity price caps for energy crisis
Portugal approved a bill to cap electricity prices if costs rise by over 70 percent. The plan requires consumption cuts for households and businesses.
The government of Portugal has approved a legislative framework allowing for temporary electricity price caps for households and most businesses in the event of a national energy crisis. While the bill provides the state with intervention powers, officials emphasized that current wholesale prices in the Iberian market remain well below the levels required to trigger the new measures.
The consumer protection mechanism is designed to activate if retail electricity prices rise by more than 70% or exceed 2.5 times the five-year average, specifically surpassing 180 euros per megawatt-hour. Currently, the Iberian wholesale market, MIBEL, is trading at approximately 37.6 euros per MWh, indicating that the threshold for intervention has not been reached.
