18/01/2023 (Agence Europe) – In a meeting with the European Commission’s executive vice-president for competition, Margrethe Vestager, Spain’s Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, and her Portuguese counterpart, Duarte Cordeiro, asked for an extension of the mechanism that reduces wholesale electricity prices in the Iberian market by lowering the costs of inputs used in fossil fuel power plants, several sources told EUROPE on Wednesday 18 January. This mechanism, approved by the Commission on 8 June 2022 (see EUROPE 12968/4), is due to expire on 31 May. According to the Spanish authorities, it is thought to have saved Spanish households and businesses €4.577 million on their energy bills (as of 8 January 2023). At the time of going to press on Wednesday evening, the two countries had not yet formally notified the prolongation of the measure to the European Commission.. (DG)