The companies in charge of distributing butane cylinders In Spain they are going through a critical moment. They argue that the remuneration What they receive for each bottle they distribute has not been updated for more than a decade and, therefore, does not cover the actual costs of the servicewhich is causing them to work at a loss.
Iago Castro, president of the Spanish Federation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Distributors (FEDGLP)explains to elEconomista Energy that the distribution agencies “they have been enduring for several years increasing operating costs -higher fuel prices, increased labor costs and environmental demands-, which make it very difficult to continue the service under current conditions.
This situation, which according to Castro comments, affects more than 170 distribution companies and endangers the continuity of nearly 4,000 jobs“has gone from being complicated to becoming unsustainable.”
“On the one hand – says Castro – we ask that Order IET/389/2015, of March 5, is updatedwhich includes the formula used to calculate the marketing costs – which include all the costs necessary to make this energy available to the consumer, including those corresponding to home delivery – and, on the other hand, we ask that the commission per cylinder distributed is updated“.
Regarding the cost of marketing, adds Castro, “this year it has only risen one euro cent per bottlewhich clearly is insufficient and shows how obsolete the formula is.” The remuneration received by the distribution agencies, comments the president of the FEDGLP, “is updated once a year and is independent of the bimonthly changes in the price of the bottle.”
In fact, Castro remembers that the price of the regulated cylinder in Spain –which cannot exceed 19.55 euros– It costs half of what it costs in other European countries such as Portugal and France, whose value amounts to 30 euros, or the United Kingdom, where a bottle costs 50 euros, “so that the update of Order IET/389/2015 will continue to maintain that the regulated cylinder is the cheapest in Europe , while guaranteeing the quality of home delivery and laying the foundations for the sector’s migration towards 100% renewable energy in 2050”, states the president of the FEDGLP.
Regarding the commission per bottle distributed, Castro explains that the average commission that distribution agents receive is around 3 euros per bottle“an amount with which they have to pay salaries, warehouses, administration, trucks, fuel, etc., and that we consider, based on the different studies carried out and presented to the Ministry, that the commission should be 4.80 euros per bottle“.
Strikes in November and December
After many conversations with Ministry of Ecological Transition To make them understand the situation, in June of this year Miteco decided to launch a prior public consultation on the modification of Order IET/389/2015, which is on stand-by during the summer. As things were not progressing and given the refusal to call a formal meeting with the distribution agencies to advance the negotiation, the FEDGLP made the decision, on October 21 at the General Assembly, to temporarily suspend home delivery of cylindersfrom November 5 to December 23, one day every week.
The strikes have not affected points of sale or users in situations of social vulnerability, educational, health, social care centers, nursing homes, or non-profit institutions. Nor has the service been suspended in the Valencian Community and in those areas affected by DANA, where it was decided to double the delivery service.
Insufficient draft
Coinciding with the first day of suspension, the Ministry decided to advance the public consultation towards a draft ministerial order. However, Castro points out, “although the text proposal recognizes all the problems that have been affecting us in recent years, the numerical proposal is very far from our requests, so it only recognizes one increase of 30 cents per cylinder distributedwhich means 6 times less than necessary to reverse the situation, being also lower than the almost 40 cents deficit that the CNMC itself indicated that already existed in the distant 2015″.
The allegations process closed on November 25. “We have presented our allegations, the operators too, as well as the rest of the actors in the sector and, right now, we are in a bureaucratic limbo,” says Castro.
“We hope that the Ministry will revise the draft upwards and publish the new ministerial order imminently, the numbers provided are irrefutable and it is urgent to reverse the current situation and stop the erosion of a essential service from which more than 6 million Spanish households benefit daily –many of them in rural areas far from distribution networks and in homes at risk of exclusion and vulnerability– and which represents the rdelivery of more than 50 million butane cylinders per year“adds the president of the Federation.
Operators also complain. From the Liquefied Gas Association (AGL) state that “the situation of generalized inflation has increased the operating costs of gas transportation and distribution, but the formula with which the Government currently establishes sales prices does not reflect this reality, which has led to a unsustainable situation for a sector that is essential, both for industry and for households, and which is especially aggravated in the case of regions like the Canary Islands, since its status as an outermost region only aggravates costs that are not being recognized in the current formula either.” .
To contribute to the resolution of this problem, the Liquefied Gas Association, which has been working for several years to disseminate and promote alternatives with a low carbon footprint such as renewable gases BioGLP and rDME, proposes “the creation of a LPG Social Bond that protects the most vulnerable sectors and guarantees an equitable energy transition for all.”
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