Secretary of State for Energy (Spain)

The Secretary of State for Energy is a senior official within the Ministry for the Ecological Transition of the Government of Spain. The Secretary of State is appointed by the Monarch after being nominated by the Council of Ministers with the advice of the Minister for the Ecological Transition.

Secretary of State for Energy
Secretario de Estado de Energía
Coat of Arms used by the Government
Incumbent
Sara Aagesen Muñoz
since January 18, 2020
Ministry for the Ecological Transition
Secretariat of State for Energy
StyleThe Most Excellent (formal)
Mr. Secretary of State (informal)
Reports toEcological Transition Minister
NominatorEcological Transition Minister
AppointerMonarch
PrecursorGeneral Secretary for Energy and Mineral Resources
FormationMay 11, 1996
First holderNemesio Fernández-Cuesta
Websiteenergia.gob.es

The Secretary of State for Energy is the minister responsible for the development of the Government's energy and mining policy, to ensure the energy supply as well as the imposition and regulation of energy tariffs, taxes and prices, the processing of carbon subsidies in accordance with European Union regulations, the economic and financial analysis and monitoring of energy markets and the regulation, monitoring and analysis of gas and electricity auctions.

It is also responsible for the realization of statistics and analysis on the energy sector and the monitoring of the conjunctural and sectoral energy indicators, the settlement of the costs and revenues of the energy sectors, the inspection of compliance with the technical conditions of the facilities and energy authorizations that are the responsibility of the General State Administration, the certification of consumption and sale of biofuels, the supervision of the liquid hydrocarbon market, the exercise of powers of control, inspection and sanction in energy matters and monitoring of the international litigation related to the regulation of the energy sector. Most of this competencies are exercised in coordination with the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC).[1]

The Secretariat of State is structured in a unique department, the Directorate-General for Energy Policy and Mines.

History

The energy policy in Spain has been traditionally bound to the industrial policy and started taking more importance in 1979, when the Ministry of Industry was modified and named Ministry of Industry and Energy.

However, it wasn't until 1996 that the energy was granted with its own higher body, the Secretariat of State for Energy and Minieral Resources, assuming the competences of the General Secretariat for Energy and Mineral Resources.[2] The life of this body was very short, being integrated in the Secretariat of State for Industry between 1998 and 2000 and in the Secretariat of State for Economy between 2000 and 2002, both bodies within the Ministry of Economy. In 2002, the competences over economy and over Energy and SMEs split in two Secretariats of State recovering its autonomy for 2 years until the change of government of 2004, when the new prime minister relegated the body to a General Secretariat level within the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade. In 2009 was re-created.

The zenith of its autonomy reached it in 2016 when the prime minister split the Ministry of Industry originating a new Ministry of Energy that assumed also the competences over Tourism and Telecommunications.

In 2018, the new government modification integrated the Secretariat of State in the Ministry of Environment in order to establish a transversal environmental policy. This new ministry integrated all the environmental-related competences (except for industrial ones) and received the name of Ministry for the Ecological Transition.

Names
  • Secretary of State for Energy and Mineral Resources (1996-1998)
  • Secretary of State for Industry and Energy (1998-2000)
  • Secretary of State for Economy, Energy and SMEs (2000-2002)
  • Secretary of State for Energy, Industrial Development and SMEs (2002-2004)
  • From 2004 and 2009, the competences were assumed by the General Secretary for Energy
  • Secretary of State for Energy (2009-present)

Structure

The current organization of the Secretariat of State is:[1]

  • The Directorate-General for Energy Policy and Mines.
    It is the management body of the competencies of the Secretariat of State. It is divided in seven departments: The Deputy Directorate-General for Hydrocarbons, the Deputy Directorate-General for Electric Power, the Deputy Directorate-General for Nuclear Energy, the Deputy Directorate-General for Mines, the Deputy Directorate-General for Renewable Energies and Studies, the Deputy Directorate-General for Energy Efficiency and the Deputy Directorate-General for Energy Inspections and Liquidations and of Analysis, Planning and Prospective.

The Secretary of State has its own Cabinet composed of four advisors.

From Secretary of State directly depend several public bodies and enterprises such as the Institute for the Restructuring of Coal Mining and Alternative Development of the Mining Regions (IRMC), the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy (IDAE), the City of Energy Foundation (CIUDEN) and the National Energy Efficiency Fund (FNEE). In addition, the state-owned enterprises National Company of Radioactive Waste (ENRESA) and Strategic Reserves of Petroleum Products Corporation (CORES) are under the tutelage of the Secretariat of State.

List of secretaries
No. Image Name Term of office Prime Minister
Began Ended Days of service
1º Nemesio Fernández-Cuesta 11 May 1996 26 September 1998 868 José María Aznar
2º José Manuel Serra Peris 30 September 1998 6 May 2000 584
3º José Folgado Blanco 29 April 2000 20 April 2004 1452
Competencies assumed by the Secretary General for Energy (2004-2009)
4º Pedro Marín Uribe 18 April 2009 10 January 2011 632 José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
5º Fabricio Hernández Pampaloni[3] 10 January 2011 31 December 2011 355
6º Fernando Marti Scharfhausen 31 December 2011 29 December 2012 364 Mariano Rajoy
7º Alberto Nadal Belda 29 December 2012 12 November 2016 1414
8º Joan Mesquida Ferrando 19 November 2016 19 June 2018 577
9º José Domínguez Abascal[4] 19 June 2018 18 January 2020 578 Pedro Sánchez
10º Sara Aagesen Muñoz[5] 18 January 2020 Incumbent 1376

References
  1. "Royal Decree 864/2018, of July 13, which develops the basic organic structure of the Ministry for Ecological Transition". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  2. "Royal Decree 839/1996, of May 10, which establishes the basic organizational structure of several ministries". www.boe.es. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  3. "El Gobierno nombra a Fabricio Hernández Pampaloni nuevo secretario de Estado de Energía". El Confidencial (in Spanish). 2014-10-19. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  4. Monforte, Carmen (2018-06-15). "José Domínguez Abascal, nuevo secretario de Estado de Energía". Cinco Días (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  5. "The Government appoints Sara Aages in new Secretary of State for Energy". Spain's News. 2020-01-17. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
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