Parliament is today debating a bill presented by the PCP that aims to set the price of bottled gas at 20 euros, as well as a set of proposals from other parties that defend the reduction to 6% of the VAT applied to this source of energy.
The communists’ proposal envisages setting the maximum price for “cylinder gas” of 13 kilos at 20 euros, including taxes, being considered the most ambitious initiative among those presented, according to PCP deputy Alfredo Maia.
“What we say is that the Government, together with ERSE [Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos]this maximum value must be set at 20 euros and the mechanisms that will lead to this objective must also accommodate, in addition to the profit margin for operators, the tax incidence”, said the parliamentarian to the Lusa agency.
Alfredo Maia also considered that “it is necessary to eliminate the enormous profit margin that gas stations have” in this process, pointing to the example of Spain, where “a bottle of gas is sold for less than 17 euros”.
“In Portugal, on the contrary, it was between 33 and 37 euros per 13 kilo bottle. There is no reason, neither fiscal nor otherwise, why in Spain a bottle of gas is much cheaper than in Portugal”, he continued.
Alfredo Maia also highlighted that the PCP’s initiative is more advanced than that of the other parties, because it establishes clear objectives, “not only of fiscal justice, but above all of the justice of consumer price formation”.
Proposals to reduce VAT on gas
Enough, Liberal Initiative and Left Bloc all propose reducing VAT to the minimum rate (6%) for butane and propane gas bottles.
Livre also defends the same VAT reduction with some nuances, namely “in the case of low pressure piped gas, for low pressure consumption that does not exceed 10,000 cubic meters per year, and, in the case of bottled gas, for cylinders with a capacity of up to 13 kilograms”.
The PS, in its bill, wants to create a legal regime for “defining the price of gas”.
In the document, the PS proposes that ERSE will have to prepare and publish “a quarterly report evaluating market conditions and fixing the price of LPG [Gás Petróleo Liquefeito] in all its components” and the same report must contain information on the price difference compared to Spain.
The report must identify the difference “possible market or competitive failures” and, in case of “distortions of competition in this setting”, the Government will have to recommend the setting of maximum margins.
The PS also proposes the creation of subsidies in cases where “the retail sales price is higher than the corresponding price on the Spanish market” and this subsidy would be financed by the “environmental fund or directly by the State Budget”.
Subsidies would be applied directly to market operators.
The socialists also propose an amendment to the law that establishes the general principles relating to the organization and functioning of the National Petroleum System (SPN), which would now include a safeguard that stipulates the setting of “maximum margins” in any of the “commercial components that form the public sale price of simple fuels or bottled LPG”.
Two draft resolutions from the PAN and the PSD will also be discussed and voted on.
The PSD recommends that the Government adopt measures that reinforce competition, transparency and accessibility in the bottled LPG market, while the PAN recommends that the executive make “access to ‘cylinder gas’ more accessible for families”.
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