Cost of Energy in Spain to rise from New Year

Spain is bracing itself for significant rises in the price of energy after the Government Commission for Economic Affairs decided that the price of electricity will rise by 9.8% from 1st january.

This will mean an increase of around 60 euros on the average yearly electricity bill, according to many consumer groups.

The increase comes down to two factors: firstly, the increase in energy production costs and secondly, higher prices for coal, petoleum and other raw materials.

The cost of gas will also increase at the same time, with a 3.9 percent increase to be imposed by the government. This increase will not hit pockets as hard as the electricity price increase, but will mean an average increase of around just 2 Euros in the heating bill over the winter months.

Consumers in Spain have seen two rises in energy prices over the past nine years with the average electricity bill rising by almost 40 percent since the start of 2002.

This year has been particularly hard on consumers with two price increases. First came a 2.6 percent rise in January 2010 which was followed by a further 5 percent increase in October.

Rising energy cost will also be reflected in the price of travel in Spain with the announcement that the cost of tickets on the high-speed AVE trains will increase by 2.5 percent, while tickets on local an middle distance journeys will be 3.2 percent more expensive from the start of 2011.