NUS Consulting Group
Energy Blog / Industry Insights
Posted: Dec. 29th 2020

Statute of Electrointensive Consumers

In line with the guidelines set by the European Commission and with the legislation previously issued by other countries in the EU, this statute defines which electricity consumers can be considered electrointensive in Spain.


The Spanish government recently made public Royal Decree 1106/2020, dated December 15 2020, which regulates the "Statute of Electrointensive Consumers" in Spain. In line with the guidelines set by the European Commission and with the legislation previously issued by other countries in the European Union, this statute defines which electricity consumers can be considered electrointensive in Spain, and what benefits they can receive to help them be more competitive in the international environment. We provide below a summary of the most relevant points included in this statute.

1. Requirements, Certification and Obligations


1.1 Requirements

The electrointensive consumer certification will be applied at point of supply or facility level. The points of supply or facilities that are eligible to be certified as electrointensive consumers must meet the following requirements:

  1. To have used an annual volume of electricity (including self-consumption, if any) greater than 1 GWh during (at least) two of the three previous years, and, at the same time, to have used at least 50 percent of the energy in the hours corresponding to the lowest tariff period (P6 in tariffs 6.x and P3 in tariffs of 3 periods) during the same two years.
  2. To operate in a sector or subsector that belongs to one of the 60+ types of activity defined in the royal decree – energy intensive sectors.
  3. To have had a ratio between the annual consumption and the gross added value of the facility higher than 1.5 kWh/€ for (at least) two of the three previous years.
  4. In the case of new points of supply or facilities that do not have data corresponding to previous years due to being newly created, to prove compliance with the above requirements based on projections.

1.2 Certification

In order to apply to get the certification as electrointensive consumer each point of supply or facility should to take the following into account:

  1. The certification request and the supporting documentation required must be sent electronically through the official electronic site of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (https://sede.serviciosmin.gob.es).
  2. The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Tourism will have a maximum period of six months since the date of the certification application to resolve and notify the resolution.
  3. The electrointensive consumer certification issued by the General Directorate of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises will be valid during the year for which it was requested and during the first four months of the following year (until April 30th).
  4. In order to renew the certification electrointensive consumers will need to process the corresponding application before April 30th of the year in which the current certification expires – this must also be done electronically through the official electronic site of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (https://sede.serviciosmin.gob.es).

1.3 Obligations

After obtaining the electrointensive consumer certification, the electrointensive consumer commits to a number of obligations, including the following:

  1. It must have the equipment, maintain the systems and communications required by the regulations, and must have a predictable consumption profile – it must provide to the System Operator, either directly or through its electricity supplier, its forecast of hourly consumption (including self-consumption, if any) on a monthly basis with a accuracy of its hourly demand program of more than 75 percent on a monthly average.
  2. In order to benefit from being an electrointensive consumer, it must have, within a maximum period of two years since the entry into force of the royal decree, an audited and certified Energy Management system aligned with the UNE-EN ISO 50001: 2018 standard.
  3. In the case of large companies obliged to carry out energy efficiency audits at least every four years by chapter II of RD 56/2016, which transposes Directive 2012/27 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to energy audits, electrointensive consumers must implement actions to improve their energy performance that are recommended in the audits carried out, provided that those actions are economically profitable (in this context they refer to profitable actions as those where the return of the investment do not exceeds three years).
  4. It must submit a detailed report to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, and also to the competent body in energy matters of the regional government where the facility is located, for at least the three years following the receipt of any aid (before December 31st of each year) – in such report they will need to provide details of actions implemented to improve energy efficiency, electricity consumption and additional technical information.
  5. It must send to the General Secretariat for Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises on an annual basis energy, economic, financial, and employment data in accordance with the form that will be established.
  6. To benefit from being a electrointensive consumer, it must purchase at least 10 percent of it annual electricity demand through products directly or indirectly linked to green energy sources with a minimum term of five years – it must prove compliance with this requirement within one year from obtaining the electrointensive consumer certification, or (exceptionally) within a longer period when this is justified for the fulfillment of previously existing supply contracts.
  7. Where benefiting from being an electrointensive consumer, it must maintain its activity for three years once the aid has been received, and commit not to reduce its production or workforce by more than 15% during that period.
  8. Additionally, the government may require (by royal-decree) in the future certain electrointensive consumers to implement other additional environmental management systems.

2. Compensation Mechanism


A compensation mechanism is established to recover part of the charges for the financing of renewables, high-efficiency cogeneration, and non-peninsular territories. Electrointensive consumers will be allowed to benefit from this compensation mechanism as follows:

  1. The aid will be funded via the General State Budgets through annual calls; these calls may be done separately for each type of aid, or jointly for all types of aid together.
  2. The global amount corresponding to each call will be distributed proportionally among all the potential beneficiaries who have applied; however, each grant will have a maximum of 85 percent of the costs incurred by each beneficiary.
  3. The processing of the aid application must be done electronically through the official electronic site of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (https://sede.serviciosmin.gob.es).
  4. The deadline for submitting applications and the corresponding documentation will be thirty business days since the date when the call is published.
  5. Electrointensive consumers who have been designated to receive the aid must communicate their acceptance of the aid in order to receive it.

3. Risk Coverage Mechanism


A mechanism is established to cover the risks derived from the acquisition of electricity through medium and long-term contracts. Electrointensive consumers can take benefit from this mechanism as follows:

  1. Subject to budget availability, the Spanish state will use the Spanish Fund for Guarantees of Electrointensive Entities (FERGIE) to support electrointensive consumers covering their risks deriving from their acquisition of electricity through mid and long-term products.
  2. The Managing Agent of FERGIE will be the Compañía Española de Seguros de Crédito a la Exportación, S.A. (CESCE).
  3. The risk coverage may take the form of credit insurance or guarantees, where the Managing Agent will act as insurer or as guarantor.
  4. The remuneration of the Managing Agent will be agreed between the parties and may not exceed 20 percent of the net premiums. Also, the Managing Agent may charge analysis fees to the applicants in order to carry out the analysis of the risk coverage requests.

NUS Consulting provides support to our clients in Spain in order to help them understand if and how they can benefit from this new statute and reduce their energy costs.

Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism


Miguel J. Fernández

Written by Miguel J. Fernández

General Manager, Iberia