Alcoa warns of the unsustainability of its activity because of the price of light

The 103% increase in the price of the megawatt hour produced in the wholesale electricity market during the month of January 2017, compared to the same period of 2016, has impacted on the invoice of the industries. The multinational Alcoa has already urged to lower prices immediately, as it sees the competitiveness of its three Spanish plants unviable in the face of this rise in the electricity bill.

The factories of A Coruña, San Cibrao (Lugo) and Avilés (Asturias) consume approximately 2% of the national electricity production, which is why they are talking about a large amount. According to the chairman of the A Coruña plant committee, Juan Carlos López Corbacho, “the situation is critical,” since energy costs account for 30-40% of their production costs. He also stressed that “with these prices, the activity is not sustainable”, assuring that the continuous rise significantly affects the company, as it pays electricity at the market price.

A situation that also live other large energy-consuming industries such as metallurgical, timber, although they benefit from discounts on the invoice in exchange for providing the service interruptible, according to which they must be willing to reduce consumption when the Electrical system so requires to ensure electricity supply to the rest of the country. Incentives established through an annual auction system, periodicity now questioned by the association of energy-intensive companies (AEGE), which requests that these be distributed over a longer period to give greater stability to the sector, He would know in advance the proceeds from the interruptibility and could be planning the investments.

(Source: La Voz de Galicia)