Several hotel associations have announced that they will support a symbolic blackout this Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. to protest against the increase in costs derived from the rise in electricity and gas bills. "This act seeks to make visible the situation of vulnerability and uncertainty that these sectors are going through and to put on the table a series of initiatives to deal with the problem and try to save companies and jobs," they explain from the Spanish Hospitality Business Confederation.
The confederation, of which 300,000 companies in the sector are part, considers that the situation that hospitality businesses are going through is "extremely serious" since the electricity bill, the supply that has risen the most in price in the last year, "It has tripled" in some cases. For this reason, he warns that the viability of many businesses is at risk.
The five-minute blackout – although in some places it will last up to 15 minutes – will be supported by establishments in many provinces and cities. This is the case of Granada, Córdoba, Ciudad Real, León, Murcia, Málaga, La Rioja, Alicante, Almería, Ávila, Seville, Lleida, Zaragoza, Teruel, Asturias, Lugo, Salamanca, Segovia, A Coruña, Huelva, Cádiz, Jaén, Cantabria, Cuenca, Cáceres, Badajoz, Valencia and Huesca. Likewise, in Madrid, a symbolic lights-out of the establishments in the Plaza Mayor has been called, whose terraces will light candles during the minutes that the act lasts.
In a statement, the Federation of Andalusian Hospitality Entrepreneurs points out that the objective of the protest is to make "their delicate situation" visible and make the Government of Spain see the "urgent need for solutions that allow companies and jobs to be saved." According to the data handled by the federation and the Spanish Hospitality Business Confederation, energy represents between 6% and 8% of the costs of a business, so an increase of one third can cause an increase of between 2 % and 3% of fixed costs in companies in the sector.
According to the confederation, the average cost of energy in a restaurant is on average between 3,000 and 6,000 euros. Thus, depending on the size, location and services offered by the establishment, the percentage increase in the electricity bill can range between 20% and 40%, although he has warned that "cases of triple increases in bills compared to last year. In this sense, he argues that it is very common for the highest consumption in this type of establishment to occur in slots with a rush hour cost, "for this reason it is clearly penalized," they add.
The sector maintains that, although this year the billing levels prior to the pandemic have been reached, the profitability of companies is, however, well below that of 2019 due, among other factors, to the very high costs of energy .
After the blackout, it is expected that the different associations that have joined the call will read a consensus manifesto to explain the position of the sector and the situation it is going through. Likewise, measures will be proposed to mitigate the effects on the sector due to the rise in the price of the main supplies.
At the end of September, Hospitality in Spain proposed a series of initiatives to deal with the problem of rising energy costs, such as the granting of aid and support for the reconversion of facilities and equipment, as well as for the implementation of renewable energy sources and self-consumption systems. For the federation, the rise in electricity is currently the point of greatest concern in the sector, "since it is a basic expense that cannot be eliminated, on which the operation of the cold rooms depends, as well as heating, air conditioning , lighting or the use of induction hobs.
