The year 2023 will be marked by widespread price increases for various everyday services, with inflation in November reaching 9.9%
Tolls, as well as rents, although limited by the government, will be two examples of the impact of inflation.
Electricity will also increase for those in the regulated market and for some customers who have switched to the liberalized market, pressured by the prices of natural gas, used to produce electricity.
Check out the already known price updates for 2023:
Tolls
The tolls will increase by 4.9% starting in January, announced the Minister of Infrastructures, considering the solution that was reached to be "balanced".
"It was clear to us that an increase of 9.5% and 10.5% was unbearable, but there are also contracts and responsibilities and we tried to find a balanced solution that would allow a lower increase," said Pedro Nuno Santos.
The governor explained that "2.8% will be the State's responsibility and the remainder, up to 9.5% or 10.5%, will be borne by the concessionaires.
This solution results from a "sharing of responsibilities" and avoids that the price of the tolls that result from the concession contracts would increase by 9.5% and 10.5% in 2023, due to the current context of high inflation.
Rents
As of January, rents will only be able to increase up to 2%, after the Government published a law to this effect in the Diário da República in October, as part of the measures to mitigate the impact of price increases.
Under the terms of Law nr. 19/2022, "during calendar year 2023 the annual rent updating coefficient for the several types of leases set forth in article 24 of Law nr. 6/2006, of February 27 will not apply", and the coefficient in force for the several types of urban and rural leases covered will be 1,02, "without prejudice of stipulating otherwise between the parties".
Even so, the rent update coefficient set for 2023 (1.02) is the highest in the last nine years.
Electricity
The price of electricity on the regulated market will rise 1.6% in January 2023, compared to December, and the increase will be 3.3% compared to the average this year, higher than the values proposed in October, announced ERSE - Energy Services Regulatory Authority.
According to data published by ERSE, with this increase, the average monthly bill, as of January 2023, for a couple without children (power 3.45 kVA, consumption 1,900 kWh/year) increases 0.54 euros, and for a couple with two children (power 6.9 kVA, consumption 5,000 kWh/year) increases 1.41 euros.
In the liberalized market, EDP Comercial announced that it will increase by about 3%, on average, the value of the electricity bill for residential customers, as of January 1, reflecting the volatility of the cost of energy acquisition.
For its part, Endesa plans to maintain the overall value of customers' electricity bills in 2023, starting to include the cost of the Iberian mechanism, but reducing electricity prices, the company warned in a note to customers.
Iberdrola said that customers' electricity bills will fall by an average of 15% in 2023, noting that this reduction "applies to the components of energy and access costs. Excluding "naturally taxes, fees and other values defined by the State," the company added in a statement.
Galp will reduce electricity bills by about 11% on average as of early 2023, an official source told Lusa. Thus, said the same source, "for an average consumption of a family with two children, the most common in Galp's customer portfolio, this update will result in an average decrease of €3.50 to €6" per month.
Gas
The natural gas bill will increase, starting in January, by about 3% for the most representative customers in the regulated market, after a deviation in the forecasts for acquisition prices, ERSE announced.
In a statement, the entity said it updated "the price of energy tariff of the regulated market, by an additional two euros per MWh, effective from January 1, 2023.
Thus, the average monthly bill in 2023 for a couple without children (1st consumption bracket, consumption 1,610 kWh/year) increases 0.33 euros and for a couple with two children (2nd consumption bracket, consumption 3,407 kWh/year) increases 0.70 euros.
On the other hand, Galp indicated that for its clients "natural gas bills will remain unchanged in the first three months of 2023."
Bread
The price of bread will rise again in 2023, due to the increase in the cost of raw materials and energy, but also impacted by the update of the national minimum wage, said the Association of Trade and Baking Industry to Lusa.
According to the association, only part of the increases have been reflected in the price paid by the consumer, the rest has been borne by producers who, in turn, record a decline in profit margins.
Transports
The Authority for Mobility and Transport (AMT) announced in October that the update of transport fares was expected to be 6.11%, recalling that it has as its maximum value the average variation rate of the Consumer Price Index, except housing, in the 12 months between October 2021 and September 2022, or 0 when this rate is negative.
However, he said in a note published on his website, for 2023, "in the current macroeconomic context, taking into account the rate of inflation, determines the Resolution of the Council of Ministers n. No. 74-A/2022, of September 6, and without prejudice to the respective compensation to be allocated by the competent transport authorities", the "no increase in "public transport passes" and "the maintenance, during that year, of the fare pricing in force in 2022 for CP transport tickets" for regular services, i.e. the fare increase of 6.11%, may only apply "to occasional transport tickets and fares".
Remember that occasional tickets of the intermodal fare pricing Andante, in the Metropolitan Area of Porto (AMP), will suffer an average increase of 1% from January. Monthly passes will not increase.
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