The government sets maximum prices for gas bottles during the state of emergency

The Government has established maximum prices for bottled gas, which will come into effect during the state of emergency, due to the covid-19 pandemic, between 22 and 81.05 euros, depending on the type.

According to a joint order of the Minister of the Environment and Climate Action, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, and the Minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition, Pedro Siza Vieira, it is defined that, during the month of April, the 13-kilogram bottle (kg) of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), type T3, will cost a maximum of 22 euros, that is, 1,692 euros / kg.

For the 11 kg bottle of LPG propane, also T3, the maximum value is 22.24 euros, a price of 2,022 euros per kg.

In the case of the 45 kg bottle of LPG propane, type T5, the maximum limit is 81.05 euros (1,801 euros per kg).

This order “establishes the maximum price setting for bottled LPG, at ‘standard’ steel rates, during the period of validity of the state of emergency,” the government stated in the same note.

The two tutors justify the “need for this preventive action” with “the increase in the commercialization margin practiced by retail operators, in countercyclicality with the evolution of the prices of derivatives in international markets”.

The same diploma also determines that, “in the case of relevant changes in international prices, identified by the Energy Services Regulatory Entity (ERSE), new regulated prices can be established to apply to the remaining days of the current month, by means of a new order. “

On Tuesday, consumer protection association Deco said it expected “a drop of six euros or more in the cost of a bottle of butane gas by the end of May.”

“The price of oil has been falling since the end of 2019, it fell from around $ 70 to less than $ 30 per barrel in early April, which has been reflected in the prices of its derivatives, such as gas” and therefore, “a drop in the price of bottled gas is expected this month,” Deco said.

The association analyzed the evolution of the price of bottled butane gas, “the most used in Portugal” and concluded that “there is a delay of approximately two months between the change in the reference price and its reflection in the amount paid by the consumer”.

Therefore, in Deco’s understanding, it is already evident that “this month it is expected that the decrease will begin to be reflected and that the price of the gas cylinder, currently at an average value of 26 euros, will approach 23 euros” .

The entity said that the decrease in prices “will have to keep up with the drop that has occurred in petroleum products. That is why we are aiming for values ​​below 20 euros, per bottle, until the end of May.

In turn, on April 6, Apetro – Portuguese Association of Oil Companies warned, in a statement, about the differences between bottled gas and liquid fuels.

“Although the different operators present in the national market have business models with some differences, it is common that they all have a total resale network, with around 50,000 points of sale, an estimated park of more than 10,000,000 bottles, and with sales of more 200,000 bottles per day “, that is, there is a” level of intermediation necessary to ensure adequate coverage of the territory “and that even ensures home deliveries.

Apetro also guaranteed that “the price of products in international markets cannot be reduced on the 1st of each month, since there are significant variations throughout the month, as happened in January, after the drone attack in Iran, without having at that time, as evidenced by the prices of February 1, this increase was reflected in the prices to the final consumer “and that” the main operators in Portugal only set the price for the first line of the network of resellers (resellers), without defining the prices practiced along the value chain “.

Apetro also reinforced that VAT at 23% in Portugal is higher than that practiced in other countries and that in Spain “where the prices on some types of bottles are lower than those practiced in Portugal” there is “price fixing, times below cost, which has resulted in cumulative tariff deficits of the order of hundreds of millions of euros, and in judicial convictions by the Spanish State ”.