On 27 June, Spain, extended the term of the measure to make electricity supply contracts more flexible, which has been in force since 2022. This allows Spanish irrigators to maintain the possibility of changing the electrical power within a period of less than 12 months. And in France, this measure has always existed. This has been something FENACORE has been struggling for a long time.
In Portugal, the contracted power continues to be charged to farmers throughout the year, when in reality the activity only takes place for 6 months of the year. The limitation is in the national legislation, which only allows one contract change per year to reduce power which is not suited to the needs of the sector.
There is an urgent need to find a solution to this high cost for Portuguese farmers, which results from the fact that they don’t have access to a seasonal tariff and are forced to pay for power they don’t use.
In Portugal, electricity prices are among the highest in Europe and more than half
of the bill are taxes and charges. It is essential that Portuguese farmers benefit from the same conditions as their peers in other their peers in other EU member states, maintaining the necessary competitiveness in the global agricultural market.
With this in mind, FENAREG sent the Minister for the Environment and Energy and the Minister for
Agriculture and Fisheries, the memorandum for the energy sustainability of irrigated land. There are
5 priority measures:
- Seasonal electricity contracts.
- Replacing conventional energy sources with renewable ones.
- Irrigation energy efficiency programme.
- Setting up energy communities in irrigated systems.
- Green electricity for 40 to 50 per cent of the invoice value.
The implementation of these measures will have a mobilising and driving effect so that
the process of modernising irrigated land and would represent a clear and concrete message of support for farmers.