Press release - Communication

Secretaria Regional do Turismo, Mobilidade e Infraestruturas

The Regional Secretariat for Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructures informs that the increase in the maximum retail prices (PMVP) of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), determined by Normative Order 39/2024 of December 27, 2024, arises from the combination of several factors that should be publicly detailed, including:

1) The adoption of a new calculation formula for gas pricing is in line with the recommendation of the Court of Auditors in Audit Report no. 06/2023 - FS/SRATC. This formula - published in the Government Council Resolution no. 188/2024 of December 23, 2024, and supported by a technical study conducted by an external consultant - will now have the cost of the product updated monthly according to international quotations, as is the case with other fuels;

2) The updating to inflation of the remaining components of the PMVP calculation formula, which have remained unchanged for more than a dozen years.

3) The failure to update the components of logistics costs and the administrative freeze on the price of the product at source in 2019 put enormous pressure on distributors, who threatened to suspend the supply of LPG to the Region since it was these entities that absorbed the increases in real costs that were not reflected in the sales price.

Given the recommendations of the Court of Auditors' report referred to above and the questions raised by distributors, a study was commissioned from an external consultant to analyse the components and formula for forming the PVMP, with a view to updating it and making the entire price formation process more transparent.

The study conclusions were shared with the main LPG suppliers, and the new formula was established and notified to the Court of Auditors, thus corresponding to the recommendation issued by this Court.

The formula application results in a price of 23.77€/standard bottle for January 2025, i.e. 5.47€ more/standard bottle.

It should be noted that this figure is about €5 lower than the price in force in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (€28.73/standard bottle) and about €10 lower than the price in Mainland Portugal (€33.16/standard bottle). This comparison highlights the outdated situation in the Autonomous Region of the Azores and the concern of guaranteeing supplies at the lowest possible cost.