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Cledis Candelaresi
Contrary to what was proposed by the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, in the Budget Law 2023, finally the Congress it blocked the possibility for the nation to withhold funds from the provinces whose distributors owe electricity, although it has entrusted them with the “strict control of compliance” with these obligations. To meet this liability, which together amounts to about 500 billion pesos, lawmakers are promoting a generalized increase in electricity tariffs, which each jurisdiction must formalize in three months.
The same parliamentary initiative argues the creation of a tripartite entity to regulate the distribution and marketing of the Edenor and Edesur servicethe main companies in the sector by size.
This gestating entity will oblige the representatives of Alberto Fernández, Axel Kicillof and Horacio Rodríguez Larreta to agree on tariff policies and service quality requirements, sharing the responsibilities of what happens with the service in the most populated area of the country. This point crossed the parliamentary path without difficulty.
But Article 89, which attempts to regularize the situation of wholesale debts for electricity, has undergone an enormous metamorphosis which confirms Parliament as an effective sounding board for interests not aligned with central power.
The project rotated by the executive had stipulated that each province or municipality not only arbitrate the means necessary to collect that one million dollar debt from distributors who do not pay for the electricity they distribute, but also convert those jurisdictions. guarantors of the payment and expressly established the possibility of withholding the funds.
This entailed the risk of leaving the internal states with no money for public works or other sensitive benefits funded by the nation, just in an election year. Furthermore, it made them “co-responsible” for the electricity debts of the wholesale market.
In the opinion of the majority, the attributes of the nation have been archived. In the enclosure, they were torn apart: there has created a 96 installments overdue payment plan for consolidated debts.
After the half penalty, a note issued on October 31 by the parliamentary secretary to the Deputies, Eduardo Sergnul, in the Senate, Marcelo Fuentes, asked to make a correction as “wrong”: to delete the word “guarantee” from the provincial powers.
Control (which does not involve own resources), yes. Approve debts, no.
On the other hand, the definitive version of this article provided that both the Nation and the Provinces, within 90 days of the approval of the 2023 Budget, had to disseminate new rate charts which contemplate the payment of such debts. That is, with increased values.
The increase in tariffs is not a parliamentary competence. But lawmakers are explicitly giving in recognition of new increases in distributionwhich will be added to those recorded in the price of energy itself, under the segmentation parameter (more to some users than to others).
Retail electricity prices today constitute a very diverse map. A 250-kilowatt-hour user in the Level 1 metropolitan area (from which subsidies are taken away) had a 2,200 pesos bill in October. In Cordoba, the amount to cover this consumption reaches 4,300.
The wholesale electricity costs the same across the country. But each distributor has a different jurisdiction and their own margin.
Economy try to put an end to a recurring habit. Public, private or cooperative companies that have been distributing electricity for some time tend to finance themselves by not paying for electricity, which they then take home, businesses or industries.
Since between them and the generators that provide this input there is Cammesa – the Administrative Company of the Wholesale Electric Market SA–, it is the national fund that ends up covering the hole with subsidiesto ensure the survival of a rarefied system and cross-debt.
In recent years it has already happened several times that several distributors have solved their cash situation stop paying the system. The accumulated debt leaves Cammesa, who depends organically on the Secretary of Energy of the Nation, in an extremely uncomfortable situation.
The main companies that distribute electricity internally are state-owned and their tariffs and global collection are subject to different criteria of governors or control bodies which have provincial authority.
In many cases, the electricity bill is an interesting vacuum of money to pay for expenses that have nothing to do with the energy service. To this prerogative is added, in fact, that of delaying payments to a supplier that until now has not demonstrated any effective collection power.
Cammesa could interrupt the service, but leaving a sector of the country in the dark is not feasible. Retaining shared funds, legally and technically impossible. The other shortcuts have been blocked in the district as part of a budget for next year that already cuts transfers from the Central Administration by 22% in real terms, including the decrease in funds for the routes.
The case of Edenor and Edesur, which today make up the list of delinquent electricity companies, has its own peculiarities. The granting power of the service is the Nation and its regulatory body Enre, which calls them to a public hearing to review their margin (VAD), which is much more limited than that of other companies in the sector.
Its service covers the metropolitan area, a politically mixed jurisdiction. During Mauricio Macri’s administration, progress had been made in transferring the national service to the province of Buenos Aires and to the municipality, which would be responsible for regulating it through a bipartite body.
The the transfer was half completednot only because the institution in gestation never had the corresponding funds allocated, but also because the province then governed by María Eugenia Vidal (Pro) did not provide it with the necessary legal support.
In January last year, the two distributors, Enre, the Secretariat for Energy (then head of Darío Martínez), a representative from Kicillof and another from CABA decided to permanently cancel this process and do what was necessary to create a future organism this time. of three legs: Nation, City and Province.
The support of the National Congress is a essential condition to create the new entity, which will bring together the representatives of Larreta and Kicillof at the same table. The same concession contracts will remain in force, effectively reformulated due to subsequent economic emergencies and the de-dollarization of tariffs.
If that three-headed entity finally gives birth, will share the responsibilities of monitoring the quality of the service and setting the new prices between three jurisdictions which usually have a different political sign. A new test for a service whose conditions are constantly changing
Source: Clarin
