The president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, confirmed this Wednesday that Iberdola has taken the Spanish government to court for the application of the extraordinary tax to electricity companies. In line with the argument followed by other energy companies such as Repsol, the company also points out that this new tax violates both the Spanish Constitution and community law.
During his appearance with the analysts to present the annual results of Iberdrola, in which the company earned 4,339 million in 2022, 11.6% more, its president reiterated the criticism already launched since its wording was known as it was apply to income and not to profit as is usual in Spanish taxation. This decision has caused, as explained by the manager, that the company must pay it despite the fact that its profit in Spain fell by 19% in 2022.
This tax will have an impact of around 200 million for Iberdrola in 2023, an amount that will be paid by the company and that it expects to recover through legal channels in 2024. Due to this, Iberdrola contemplates that the impact of the tax will reduce the growth of its benefit by reducing it to 5%, compared to between 8 and 10% that would grow without taking into account the new tax.
Ignacio Galán also made reference to the proposal to reform the electricity market in Europe. He has recognized that the "need for this reform" since 80% of the electricity marketed is sold in advance in stable contracts with customers, so the wholesale market price is not applied in most cases. Even so, Galán asked that this reform be carried out "acknowledging that it has been a market that has worked well" and thinking that Europe now has to face "enormous investments to accelerate its decarbonization policy."
Some investments that "may be at risk" if Europe takes into account the proposal put forward by the Vice President and Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera. “If we don't do attractive things, the money will move to other geographies such as the US, a very attractive area after the approval of its new Inflation Reduction Law (IRA)”, warned the president of Iberdrola. Who aligned himself with the positions of Germany, Finland, Sweden or the Netherlands in their rejection of the Spanish Government's proposal based on greater intervention in the community electricity market.
