Articulated measures to mitigate the effects of the alarm state by the Covid-19

The Council of Ministers has approved Royal Decree-Law 11/2020, of March 31, which adopts urgent complementary measures in the social and economic field to deal with the health crisis of the coronavirus that caused the declaration of the state of alarm by Royal Decree 463/2020, of March 14.

The new package of measures tries to guarantee basic supplies to more households. Thus, the group of potential recipients of the electric social bonus is expanded, such as the self-employed who have ceased their activity or whose income has been reduced by more than 75%.

In addition, in a context in which, due to a longer stay in the home derived from containment measures and the development in it of professional activities that are normally carried out outside the habitual residence, measures are established to guarantee the continuity of energy and water supplies in the home, prohibiting their suspension for reasons other than security of supply. In addition, the period during which the alarm status is in force will not count for the purposes of the terms of the supply suspension procedures initiated previously. We summarize schematically the measures contained in this Royal Decree-Lei:

1. Flexibility of electricity supply contracts for self-employed companies and individuals. (Article 42)

   1. They may temporarily suspend or modify the electricity supply contracts to adapt them to the new consumption guidelines, without any penalty being charged.

   2. Once the Alarm Status is over, within 3 months, the consumer who had requested the suspension of his electricity supply contract may request its reactivation.

   3. The reactivations and modifications of the contracts will be made within a maximum period of 5 calendar days and without any cost, except that:

      1. The potency per enzyme of the contracted be increased before the start of the Alarm State

      2. Ceded facilities have to be supervised

      3. In case it is necessary to change the measurement equipment.

2. Suspension of bills for electricity, natural gas and petroleum products (Article 44)

   1. While the State of Alarm is in force, autonomous persons and SMEs may request the suspension of the payment of the invoices of the electricity supply points of their ownership, which correspond to billing periods that contain days integrated in the State of Alarm. .

   2. Once the Alarm Status is over, the amounts pending payment will be regularized in equal parts in the following 6 months.

   3. The self-employed people and SMEs that avail themselves of the suspension of billing will not be able to change their electricity supplier until the regularization is completed.

3. Right to Social Bonus by self-employed workers who had ceased their activity or had reduced their turnover as a result of COVID-19. (Article 28)

   1. Self-employed workers may request the Social Bonus for their habitual residence if their turnover was reduced by 75% in relation to the average turnover of the previous semester.

   2. To request the Social Bonus, Annex IV of this Royal Decree-Law 11/2020, of March 31, must be covered.

   3. The Social Bonus cannot be continued once the previous condition is no longer met. In this case, the self-employed person must notify the reference marketer so that they can communicate the final date of the application of the Social Bonus.

The new measures are added to those already adopted through Royal Decree-Law 6/2020, of March 10, which adopts certain urgent measures in the economic field and for the protection of public health; Royal Decree-Law 7/2020, of March 12, adopting urgent measures to respond to the economic impact of COVID-19; Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, of March 17, on extraordinary urgent measures to face the economic and social impact of COVID-19; Royal Decree-Law 9/2020, of March 27, by which complementary measures are adopted, in the workplace, to mitigate the effects derived from COVID-19

If you have any questions about these measures or want to apply any of them, you can contact us through the following communication channels:

687 568 009

info@faepac.gal