Spain has used less power since ordering energy saving, minister says

MADRID (Reuters) - Power use in Spain fell 3.7% in the week after the country passed emergency measures to save energy, despite hot weather which usually prompts people to turn on air conditioning, Energy and Environment Minister Teresa Ribera said on Wednesday.

Strict temperature controls and requirements to turn off lights in public buildings and shop windows look set to contribute more than half the savings Spain promised as part of a European Union-wide push to cut gas use ahead of a winter of uncertain supplies from Russia, Ribera said.

"We will be in a position to respond together to Putin's energy blackmail," she told a news conference.

EU officials have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of using gas flows as a political tool linked to his invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Compared with the same week of the previous year and adjusting for other factors including temperature and working patterns, power use fell by 6%, Ribera's ministry said in a statement.

EU countries have agreed to cut their gas use by 15% and fill up stocks to prepare for a possible shut-off of supply from Russia, which accounted for 40% of the EU's supply of the fuel before it invaded Ukraine.

With limited capacity to export any excess gas on to its neighbours, Spain agreed to a 7% cut. Spain relies on combined cycle gas plants for a large proportion of its electricity - those plants generated 31% of the country's power in July.

Ribera also said a mechanism Spain and Portugal introduced in June to temporarily subsidise fossil fuel power plants' costs was having its desired effect and pulling down electricity prices.

She said consumers whose bills are linked to the wholesale price, or who have recently renewed their contracts on the free market, had saved 1.38 billion euros ($1.4 billion) over the past two months thanks to the mechanism.

(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Mark Potter)