This was announced by the Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royón the removal of electricity subsidies will take effect from October for some sectors. He referred segment N1 (high levels) and those who have not completed the form to enter the grant register. From his words it would seem that almost 5.5 million families will have to pay increases in their electricity bills.
However, this will not happen. In the government they are convinced they are moving forward with the removal of subsidies for high-income levels (they earn more than $ 420,000 a month) and 400,000 families have been identified in that category. They are the ones who entered the grant register and did not meet the requirements to keep the grants.
To that number must be added another 110,000 users who have satisfied the conditions for withholding subsidies, but who have been excluded from the possibility of accessing the “savings dollar”. Between accumulating foreign currency or accessing fares discounts, they chose the American ticket.
Between the two groups there would be more than 500,000 households who will pay a 50% increase in electricity bills. Royón included among the customers eligible for increase those who were not registered in the subsidy register. In companies in the sector they interpret that the official wanted to refer to users who have not signed up because they may belong to the high income bracket (a family group that earns more than 420,000 dollars a month, owns three houses or three cars).
Almost 5 million families have not been registered in the subsidy register. In the government it is estimated that one million of these customers prefer to be excluded from subsidies because they have the ability to cope with higher amounts in services. But there are another 4 million who didn’t fill out the form because they didn’t know how to do it, they don’t have the technology to complete it, or they don’t know they could experience rate hikes.
Companies estimate that, of the five million who have not signed up, at least two million families may need assistance. In particular, they point out family groups that don’t have incomes up to $ 120,000. According to the official definition, they should constitute the N2 (low income) segment.
The Ministry of Energy asked Cammesa – the wholesale administrator of the electricity system – to instruct distributors to identify their customers. The government is asking companies to tell it which users should continue to withhold grants.
The increase in electricity, scheduled for September, has been postponed by one month. It will be on Octoberand will arrive in the November invoices, but only for the homes mentioned by the Secretary of Energy.
The “medium” and “low” segments will not experience increases in voting in October, as reported by the government.
The removal of the grants would have been done in three installments: 20% between September-October, 40% between November and December and another 40% between January and February 2023. But that structure has already expired, because in September the grant was not withdrawn. In this way, everything is delayed for a month.
The Government is blocked against those who have not registered in the register of beneficiaries of grants. The Ministry of Energy calculates that it could take up to three months (until December) to register families who may need subsidies in the tariffs but do not manage them.
Source: Clarin
