The association of the primary sector a line of aid to the Cabildo
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Jan. 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Association of Farmers and Ranchers of the Canary Islands (ASAGA Canarias ASAJA) warns about the risk that the communities of wells in Tenerife will paralyze the extraction of irrigation water and supply due to the “excessive” increase that the electricity rate has experienced in the recent months and due to the inability of their owners to assume these high prices.
For Ángela Delgado, president of this professional agrarian organization, “it is a situation of great impact not only on the island’s agricultural activity, but also on the population’s own supply, taking into account that, according to data from the hydrological plan of Of the 150 cubic hectometres that groundwater supplies to the island, 90 are from galleries and 60 from wells, which represents a third of the total resources existing in the subsoil”.
It so happens that last October, the electricity companies that supplied power to the island’s wells stopped doing so, unable to meet their commitments to their customers, for which the community members were forced to submit to to the conditions of the electricity market to be able to supply and continue extracting water.
The change of model meant having to pay a price five times higher than what they were paying, going from a fixed monthly rate of 46 euros per megawatt to 239 euros per megawatt in the month of December.
This sharp rise has caused an increase in the electricity bill three times higher than what the communities of wells paid.
Thus, for example, facilities that paid an invoice of 27,000 euros in the month of October now pay 82,000 euros, that is, a difference of 55,000 euros in just two months.
The most immediate consequence has been reflected in the cost of the water pipe, which has increased from 0.30 to 0.60 euros, depending on the elevation level that is carried out, and which farmers must assume in order to maintain their farms alive, although many of them will not be able to withstand this increase.
These amounts could be even higher if the price of energy in the wholesale markets continues to rise.
This week, without going any further, peaks of 270 euros per megawatt have been reached and it is foreseeable that the month of January will close at levels higher than the already “unaffordable costs” of December.
In order to alleviate the negative effects of this situation, Asaga Canarias asks the Cabildo de Tenerife, which has already guaranteed farmers that they will not pay more for Balten’s irrigation water as the corporation assumes the rise in electricity costs, the creation of a specific line of aid, within the budget allocated to Agriculture, for the extraction of water from wells that allows these high costs to be moderated and made more affordable by the sector, thus reducing the economic impact it will have on both farmers and end consumers .
COMPENSATION IN THE PGE
Not surprisingly, energy represents 90% of the operating costs of a well.
Although the Canary Islands have a compensation of eight million euros managed by the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, entered annually in the PGE, aimed at lowering the extra cost for farmers of desalination and the extraction of water from wells and galleries for agricultural irrigation in the Canary Islands, the communities of wells state that this amount “of which it is unknown if it will continue this year, was assigned in a totally different context to the current one, in addition to being much lower than the additional cost that they have had to assume since the price of electricity has skyrocketed,” says Delgado.
At this point, the association calls on the communities of wells to process this regional aid of eight million euros, when the call is published, and thus be able to benefit from these funds that would allow farmers to deduct part of these extra costs. by the use of irrigation water from this type of infrastructure.
In Tenerife there are currently 300 wells, of which around 150 remain active spread over different locations, located between 200 and 400 meters above sea level, which supply water to both farmers and different population groups.
