Rajoy promises electricity bills 'will go down as soon as there is margin for it' and income tax will drop when deficit targets met

SPAIN'S president Mariano Rajoy has promised to lower electricity bills – just as consumer association FACUA has warned of a 9.1% hike on the cards for this year.

Rajoy says 'as soon as there is a margin to do so', he will reduce the cost of domestic energy, and that he will reduce income tax 'once Spain's deficit has reached its target' of less than 3% of the GDP.

The deficit target for this year is 3.1%, falling to 2.2% by the end of 2018, although Spain has as yet failed to comply with its self-imposed targets and narrowly avoided a massive fine from the EU a few months ago.

Even if Spain does meet its targets, this will not be until 2019, meaning it will have taken 10 years to resolve the country's recession-related debt.

Rajoy also says that by the year 2020, a total of 20 million people in Spain will be in employment, and says the Spanish economy has 'experienced an unprecedented transformation' thanks to his government's reforms since it gained power in November 2011, making Spain 'one of the fastest-growing economies in the Eurozone'.

“As a result, in the first half of this year, Spain will recover the GDP it lost during the financial crisis,” Rajoy claims.

Concerning electricity bills, the president says 'past policies' have left a hangover which continues today, but that his cabinet is 'working actively' to ensure the 'components of electricity bills which are subject to State regulation' do not increase.

“We will progressively reduce these elements as the margin to do so arises,” Rajoy concluded.

But FACUA has warned bills are likely to go up by as much as 9.1% this year, and their structure still means little or no incentive to use less power to save money – at least 60% of household energy bills are made up of taxes and charges, and many householders report that even if they are away from home for a whole month, their bills are practically the same for that period as at any other time when their homes are occupied.

Rajoy's opposition remains unconvinced that his government's reforms have improved the economy, pointing out that although employment has increased, it continues to be temporary, menial, insecure and badly paid.

The left-wing PSOE (socialists) and Podemos are in talks at present to work on creating a majority which would oust the right-wing PP from power.