The Economy Minister has said that a study by the Competition Authority will lead to lower bottled gas prices later this year.
The Minister, Manuel Caldeira, said that a study by the Authority warns of the lack of competition in the bottle gas market and will lead to the implementation of price reduction measures later this year and that the government’s objective is the lowering of gas prices.
Caldeira said that it is necessary to help bottled gas users and that it is important to have prices that are "more in line" with market prices rather than consumers paying prices that highlight the lack of competition in the bottled gas market.
The study was commissioned by the Ministry of the Economy because for years the price of bottled gas never seemed to move with variations in wholesale gas market price levels, unlike in Spain where there is more competition.
The Government will press ahead with allowing more gas storage facilities so that other operators can enter a market which looks like there is competition but in fact operates with all the characteristics of a cartel.
The Government has called for a meeting with the National Council for Fuels on Friday for more gas storage facilities to be built, however much the current companies in the market might moan.
According to Deco, 2.6 million Portuguese, mostly at the lower end of the income scale, use bottled gas and end up paying "double" the bill of someone who has mains gas.
