The Minister of the Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro, explained this Wednesday that the Government will inject €3 billion into the energy sector and added that this is the largest intervention ever carried out in the country. With this package, the Government aims at savings of 30% to 31% in electricity and 23% to 42% in gas.

"This is the largest intervention in the energy market in Portugal. We are talking about €2 billion of intervention in the electricity market and €1 billion in the natural gas market aimed at companies, and large consumers", said Duarte Cordeiro, at a press conference, at the Main Hall of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Action, explaining that, given the prices estimated for next year, it allows a reduction of 30% to 31% in the electricity bill of companies and of 23% to 42% in the case of natural gas.

This support package "is justified by the nature of the crisis we are experiencing and the scale of the increases we are experiencing", he added.

“Essential intervention”

Duarte Cordeiro started by explaining that these measures are aimed at companies, which means that, in total, the Government will inject another €3 billion into electricity and gas systems to limit energy prices.

"This intervention is essential for an obvious reason: It was from energy that the impacts of inflation began, which we feel throughout Europe and in Portugal, it is through intervention in the energy market that we were also able to contain the spread of price increases in every dimension of society", explained the minister.

Duarte Cordeiro added that "when we interfere with gas and electricity, we are naturally interfering with bread, milk, and in all areas that concern the production of services and products of our society".

The savings will be communicated by the Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) on October 15, with reductions of around 40 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) for gas consumed by companies not covered by the regulated tariff (up to 80% consumption), "which allows savings of around 20% to 30% compared to the price expected in 2023", reads the agreement.