The start of a new year is usually associated with a rise in prices and 2023 will not be an exception: neither will the toll rates. A few days ago we explained to you that the concessionaire companies were asking for an increase of (almost) 8.4% according to the CPI, which the Government wanted to limit to avoid such an impact on drivers’ pockets. Now We already know how much it will cost us to drive on Spanish motorways in 2023.
On Tuesday, December 27, the last ordinary Council of Ministers of 2022 took place, where the Government has approved a Royal Decree-Law that includes all the measures that are going to be adopted to face the economic and social consequences of the War in Ukraine. A legal norm that includes the mechanism devised to minimize the rise in tolls.
A moderate increase
The dealerships They asked for an increase of 8.38%, according to the evolution of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the effect of the extraordinary revisions that had to be applied in three of them. Finally, the Government has decided that the price of highways will increase by 4%: It should be remembered that in the last 17 years, the rise has been, on average, 2.1% and the highest occurred in 2007 with 4.5%.
Continuing with the measures that aim to curb the inflationary spiral, a decision has been made on the toll rates managed by the Sociedad Estatal de Infraestructuras del Transporte Terrestre (SEITT) and that, due to financial problems, reverted to the State: they will be frozen.
What highways does the increase affect?
There are eleven highways that, in 2023, will increase the price of their tolls by 4%: AP-51, AP-61, AP-53, AP-66, AP-7 Alicante-Cartagena, AP-7 Málaga-Guadiaro, AP-68 and AP-71, AP-9, AP-6 and AP-46. To these must be added three special cases: AP-7 (Alicante-Cartagena), AP-46 (Alto de Las Pedrizas-Málaga) and AP-9 (Autopista del Atlántico).
AP-7: Alicante-Cartagena
On this motorway, the increase due to the CPI and an extraordinary increase of 1% had to be applied, necessary to be able to repay the participatory loan granted, at the time, by the Government to be able to pay for the expropriations: in this case, the increase would be 9.46%. However, for her there will also be a ceiling of 4%: the ordinary increase will be 3% and the extraordinary 1%.
AP-46: Alto de Las Pedrizas-Málaga and AP-9: Autopista del Atlántico
An extraordinary price review was also planned for this pair of toll roads with the aim of generate funds to compensate the works carried out to improve the infrastructures: a project that forced to change the conditions of both concessions. As in the previous case, the price of the AP-46 and the AP-9 should have increased by 9.46%, but the Government has limited the increase to 4%.
Compensation for highways
Limiting the rise in toll prices implies that the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda will have to compensate the highways. How will do? Between 2023 and 2026, it will take care of part of that income that will stop receiving next year with a line of 23.3 million euros. Added to this is an obligation for the General State Administration: it will have to allocate the necessary items to partially mitigate the rise between 2024 and 2026, thus making it staggered.
And it is that the objective is to establish an increase in toll prices that is cumulative, a strategy that, yes, has a ‘B’ side: whatever drivers do not pay in 2023, it will have to be passed on little by little so that they can easily assume it.