The Ministry of Economy, headed by Martín Guzmán, has ordered the Secretary of Energy to begin the process of raising electricity bills. Tickets for this service increased by 20% in Buenos Aires and the suburbsbut this percentage is not enough to search for reducing energy subsidies, promised by the country to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to Guzmán, if they pass the audience filter, there will be increases in the future Close to 20% for sectors with lower purchasing power, they will reach between 43% and 45% for most customers, and may exceed 200% for households where segmentation will be applied.that is, a total removal of subsidies.

The Undersecretary of Planning of the Ministry of Energy, Santiago López Osornio, initiated the process. The goal is call a public hearing this monthso that the increments are ready to apply in June. Confirmed by official sources Clarion that the increase is underway.

The process between the call for a public hearing and the subsequent change of the rate table usually takes a month and a half. For the increase to take effect from June, the call must be made within the next seven days.

The increases detailed above were not made explicitly by Guzmán. The minister informed that the corrections would be 40% of salary variation coefficient (CVS) in lower income sectors and 80% of CVS for most clients. The households to which the segmentation will be applied they will lose any subsidy in the amount of energy, which may represent an increase of 200% or more.

The regulatory body (Enre) held a public hearing last summer that led to an overall increase of 20%. At that time, the Undersecretary of Electric Power –led by Federico Basualdo– proposed a seasonal energy price correction scheme (PEST), which generated financial savings. At that time, there were no improvements in the distribution margins of the distribution companies (Edesur, Edenor), which bring electricity to homes.

López Osornio contacted Enre to let them know that the Economy was looking for a new correction. This would mean a reduction in electricity cost subsidies and an improvement in distributors ’margins. It is estimated, on average, that this is between 43% and 45%.

The official is also planning several “segmentation” schemes. That implies that households will pay the full amount of electricity they consume. That’s a 200% increase in the summer. But now, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, all energy prices rise. Among them, gas oil used in electricity generation. This suggests that the new segmentation could result in increases that are higher than in the summer.

Undersecretary Basualdo disagreed with the new increases. The official believes they will put greater pressure on household spending, and lower cuts in subsidies.

Guzman said he planned a 0.6% reduction in subsidies. This is equal to $ 3 billion. But that was before the war, as Guzmán himself explained to Congress.

Due to the high energy cost, consultants calculate the energy item it will increase from 11,000 million in 2021 to US $ 20,000 million in 2022. The increase in charges would help the State’s savings banks, but it would not be enough to quell the impact of higher prices of energy products.

more than half of households in Buenos Aires and suburbs pay electricity bills of less than $ 1,000 per month ($ 2,000 every two months).

Suppose there is only a living and mobile minimum wage (of $ 33,000), 3% of the salary is allocated to electricity, in the Edesur register. The next third of that distributor’s electricity clients pay less than $ 2,000 per month. If they belong to a family with an average income, they allocate 2% of their income (about 97,000% per month) to this service.

An increase from 40% to 42%, as desired by the Ministry of Economy, will carry charges from about $ 2,000 every two months to less than $ 3,000 every two months ($ 1,400 per month) for most customers, according to industry estimates.

The composition of Edenor’s clients slightly changes the data, but the trend is similar. 80% of households pay an average of $ 944 per month. And four out of 10 clients of that concession pay less than $ 550 per month.