On 14 of March, it was published in the Portuguese Official Gazette the Ministerial Order no. 112/2022, which regulates the Electricity Intensive Customer Status (“ECE”), introduced by Decree-Law no. 15/2022, of 14 January (“Decree-Law 15/2022”). The Ministerial Order defines the minimum qualifying thresholds concerning the eligibility requirements for the operators of the consumption installations to benefit from the ECE and defines the applicable regime to the obligations and support measures granted to consumption installations covered by the ECE.
1. Eligibility requirements for operators of consumption installations to join the ECE
For the purpose of adhering to the ECE, it is established that electricity consumption installations must have a record of annual electricity consumption equal to or greater than 20 GWh and an annual consumption in the normal off-peak and super off-peak hours equal to or greater than 40% of annual electricity consumption, with this figure including energy from self-consumption and system services, in at least two of the last three years. Additionally, it is required that the consumer has a record of an annual electro-intensity level equal to or greater than 1 kWh/EUR of gross added value, by the arithmetic average of the last three years, calculated under the terms of the Ministerial Order.
The Ministerial Order also defines the regime for the execution, validity, amendment and termination of the ECE adhesion contract to be entered into with the Directorate General for Energy and Geology. The application to join the ECE shall be submitted with the elements referred to in the Annex to the Ministerial Order, which include, among others, proof of the electric power supply contract and proof of compliance with the requirements established for the legitimate exercise of the consumer installation's activity, if required, under the terms of the applicable legislation.
2. Obligations and support measures for the consumption installations covered by the ECE
Measurement, registry and control – ECE installations shall have measuring, recording and control equipment which guarantees the monitoring of the value of the average annual electricity consumption, being established that this equipment must observe a minimum availability rate of 90% each year.
Other costs – regarding the reduction of costs of general economic interest (“CIEG”), which are levied on the tariff of global use of the system, in the component of electricity consumption from the public service electricity network, it is defined that electro-intensive customers are exempt from paying the extra cost of production under the special regime from renewable energy sources. Moreover, within the scope of the exemption from the CIEG, which are levied on the tariff of global use of the system, for the component of electricity which is self-consumed and supplied through the public service electricity network, it is established that the CIEG costs may be deducted from network access tariffs.
Risk Coverage – the Ministerial Order also specifies the terms and conditions applicable to the risk coverage mechanism on behalf of the State to which electro-intensive customers have access. It is established that the risk coverage mechanism refers to the payment of the medium and long term acquisition price of electricity from renewable energy sources through long term bilateral contracts, with a minimum duration of five years. The risk coverage is undertaken by the Portuguese Development Bank (“Banco Português de Fomento”), in a minimum amount of 10% of the operators' annual consumption, by means of a bank guarantee.
