The Left Bloc has slammed the government’s decision to award EDP €154 million in support payments, pointing out that the government already has stated that the way the payment are worked out is ‘null and void’Calling for a suspension of the complex CMEC payment, the Left Bloc points out that "it is an abuse against consumers," as it is EDP’s customers that end up paying the amount which is added to their monthly bills.
In statements issued today, the Left Bloc said that "this remuneration and this allowance must simply disappear because it is an excrescence and an abuse against consumers and, as has happened in other countries, it must end."
The government today approved the amount to be paid to EDP for maintaining the so-called ‘contractual equilibrium’ (CMEC) until 2027, of €154.1 million - €102 million less than EDP’s initial demand.
"This figure is very high, it maintains an income for EDP that continues to be abusive to consumers," said the Left Bloc’s president, Jorge Costa.
"Between October 2017 and the current moment, two things happen that are essential," added the MP, “The first is the information that was made public about Manuel Pinho's actions regarding the electric sector, recent information that could not be taken into account by the regulator when he formulated the sum of €154 million."
The second, and "more important, are the rules on which the regulator was based to reach this number, which already have been declared null and void by the Attorney General's Office, approved by the Government and published in Diário da República.”
"Now, if the government says that the rules were null and void, but then comes up with a figure of €154 million, which was produced using those rules, then there is something that does not seem right here," said Costa.
In September of last year, a working group consisting of REN - Redes Energéticas Nacionais and EDP Production, came up with a CMEC figure of €256.5 million. EDP later rejected this calculation and claims it was due €950 million in compensation over the next decade, under the terms of the original agreement.
These CMEC payments currently are being investigated by the Public Prosecutor's Office, after a former Economy Minister, Manuel Pinho and EDP’s Executive President, António Mexia, among others, are suspected of colluding to inflate the payments beyond a figure deemed necessary to keep electricity production capacity at agreed levels.
Manuel Pinho is suspected of receiving €2 million from Espírito Santo’s slush fund for agreeing a high CMEC figure which has led to customers subsidising EDP by €550 million over the past decade.
