Energy expert, Pedro Sampaio Nunes, told the committee of inquiry into EDP’s consumer subsidy racket that the company should return €3 billion that is has received from customers under the contractual equilibrium scheme (CMEC) since 2007.
In a hearing on the commission of inquiry into excessive energy payments to the former State-owned company, Pedro Sampaio Nunes said it was "a scandal" that EDP, "with phenomenal profits, receives State aid by raising tariffs to consumers."
According to the former director of the European Commission for Energy, which in Brussels was involved in the legislation for the liberalisation of the energy market, "each year, EDP has presented a profit in the order of €1,000 million, about one third of this was from CMEC payments."
Therefore, continued the expert, "EDP should pay back €3,000 million," as this is the amount received by the electric company, led by António Mexia, which presents a threat to the Chinese bid for the business.
At the committee of inquiry hearing, the expert said that everyone has an obligation to find solutions, since the price of electricity is important to families and small and medium-sized enterprises.
The former head of the European Commission for Energy argued in parliament today that the high price of electricity in Portugal results from "illegal and illegitimate revenues" and challenged the commission of inquiry to send the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Pedro Sampaio Nunes is one of the signatories of a complaint to Brussels on the support granted to EDP and is the first person to testify in the parliamentary committee.
Meanwhile, EDP has benefitted from the heavy rainfall earlier this year which will improve its profits by around €200 million.
The estimate is from Moody's: the rain this year will increase the results for all Iberian electricity suppliers, especially those with a high hydroelectric capacity.
In a Moody's analysis released on Thursday on the Iberian electricity sector, the rating agency concludes that "Iberdrola and EDP will benefit most in absolute terms because they have the highest hydro capacity, approximately 10 GW and 7.3 GW of installed power, respectively."
The months of March and April saw twice the normal rainfall level which filled reservoirs and significantly increase the production of hydroelectric power after the drought of 2017.
Hydropower, which typically accounts for around 20% of the electricity needs in Spain and Portugal, dropped 50% after last year’s drought. However, with the heavy rains this year, hydro-electricity production was above average and almost 60% higher than in 2017.
