ES · Missing: publication date
BOSCO: the software behind Spain's electricity discount
Image: Civio, from its article on BOSCO. All rights reserved by the owner.
- Reported by
- Civio
- Methods
- Interviews and surveys
- FOI / records request
- Legal challenge
BOSCO is the software that checks who qualifies for Spain's bono social, a discount on electricity bills for vulnerable households. Rejected applicants contacted Civio, and their cases showed it was turning away people who were entitled, including widowed pensioners. Civio asked for the source code in 2018 and was refused at every stage until September 2025, when the Supreme Court ruled it had a right to the code. We could not find reporting on whether the code has since been handed over.
civio.esBOSCO: the software behind Spain's electricity discountSoftware developed by Spain's Ministry for the Ecological Transition (MITECO) that electricity companies use to check whether applicants meet the legal requirements for the bono social, a discount on electricity bills for vulnerable consumers.Spain · Reported by Civio (opens in a new tab)How they investigated
Interviews and surveys
In 2018 Civio built a website with the competition regulator (CNMC) to help people apply for the discount. Rejected applicants then contacted Civio. Their cases showed BOSCO was wrongly turning away eligible people, such as a widowed pensioner who qualified through her status although her income was above the means-tested limit.
FOI / records request
On 17 September 2018 Civio asked the ministry for BOSCO's technical specification, its test results and its source code. The ministry did not reply. In February 2019 the transparency council (CTBG) ordered the technical documents released but backed the refusal to release the code, on intellectual property grounds.
Legal challenge
Civio appealed in June 2019. A central administrative court ruled for the government, and in April 2024 so did the National High Court. The government argued that opening the code could expose security weaknesses. On 11 September 2025 the Supreme Court ruled that Civio has a right to the code, noting errors already found, such as eligible widows being turned down, and that public scrutiny can strengthen security.