Overview
- CHD president María Jesús Lafuente said zero electricity cost for the Villalobar pumping station is achievable if a binding legal basis validates a 1993 commitment.
- She outlined seven legally framed options that could be combined, including bilateral energy contracting, hybridizing with a photovoltaic park at Villalobar, tapping CHD-owned hydropower, a physical siphon from Sahechores, and indexed contracts.
- Both sides reported a cordial rapprochement and set a schedule of follow-up meetings, with legal teams tasked to craft a durable formula and talks ahead with Iberdrola and Naturgy.
- Current compensation through an “imaginary energy siphon” yields about a 33% discount, and CHD says an indexed contract could reduce prices by another roughly 20%, approaching a 53% cut.
- The irrigators, led by Herminio Medina, insist on formal legal validation and warn that applying new charges would imperil more than a thousand farms after protests this week at CHD headquarters.