Green electricity, reasonable remuneration, and the harmonisation of tariff systems: who’s afraid of economic regulation?

Abstract

The production of electricity under a special regime is a goal desired by all, but it is also an intricate puzzle when it comes to establishing fair and equitable remuneration schemes for power plants that use these energy sources, without jeopardising the sustainability of the final price paid by consumers. Portugal does not yet have a common legal framework for production under the special regime and is currently facing a complicated problem in economic regulation: guaranteeing the universality of electricity supply through efficient and fair tariffs without undermining the remuneration of investments made in the production of electricity from renewable energies, which today have reached a “worrying” market share. If, in addition to this objective, we also consider compliance with European guidelines on the matter and the need for harmonisation with Spain in the context of MIBEL, we have outlined the general framework of the variables at stake. The difficulties are mainly political, since technically various solutions are already drawn from comparative experience, and legally there can only be one answer: efficient economic regulation requires the skilful application of legal principles suited to the new model.