EDP's CEO says Portugal has been "an example of stability" in prices

EDP CEO Miguel Stilwell de Andrade said Wednesday that the high penetration of renewable energy has allowed Portugal to be "an example" of price stability for domestic customers despite the volatile international context.

Speaking to journalists during a visit to a floating solar farm in Singapore, the EDP CEO said that price developments in Portugal, including an average increase of about 3% in the overall value of the electricity bill for EDP Comercial residential customers from January, "is a perfectly stable thing in view of the framework that exists."

"For example, now here in Singapore they were telling me that energy prices have gone up 300%, we see gas prices going up and multiplying by 10 times," he said.

Read also EDP plans to invest 1.5 billion in Sunseap group until 2025 "So we have always tried to have the best possible prices and I think that given the framework that we are living in the energy crisis Portugal has been a good example, an example, despite everything, of much stability of energy prices for domestic customers.

Stilwell de Andrade explained that this stability also results from the structure of the electricity market in Portugal.

"We have a very large penetration of renewables, and this is a way of ensuring price stability, because in essence the prices of renewables is independent of fossil fuel prices, i.e. the price of gas and oil and coal can go up and down and the prices of renewables have remained fixed and this is an insurance that is now giving a rest to the Portuguese, in essence is isolating us from this large growth, very expressive that we have seen in fossil fuels," he stressed.

EDP announced on November 23 that the change in the overall value of the electricity bill for residential customers includes not only an update of the EDP Comercial tariff, reflecting the volatility of the cost of acquiring energy and the lowering of the still provisional Network Access Tariffs, but also the best estimate of what will be the cost of the Iberian Electricity Market Adjustment Mechanism, whose cost will vary monthly and will be itemized on each customer's bill.

At stake is the temporary mechanism in the Iberian Peninsula to place limits on the average price of gas in electricity production, at around 40 euros per Megawatt-hour (MWh), which was requested by Portugal and Spain due to the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, and which has been applied since mid-June.

EDP's CEO stressed that the option taken by the energy company to establish with residential and small business customers three-month contracts instead of one-year contracts, reported by the newspaper Público on December 3, fits into the strategy of offering flexibility during the energy crisis.

"We have seen a lot of volatility, so having flexibility is also good for customers because it precisely allows them to react according to price developments, so always give customers the best price at every moment," Stilwell de Andrade said at the end of the visit to the solar farm that floats on the waters of the strait that separates northern Singapore from southern Malaysia.

EDP Renováveis (EDPR), 74.98% owned by EDP, announced on February 24 that it had completed the acquisition of a 91% stake in Sunseap, one of the largest solar energy companies in Southeast Asia, for E600 million.



Lusa traveled at the invitation of EDP