Electricity distributors -such as Edenor, Edesur or Edemsa- do not pay for the total energy they consume as of 2020. At first it was because of the pandemic. Then, due to the freeze on fares – ticket increases below inflation in 2021 -. Cammesa, the wholesale administrator of the electrical system, it turned out they owed him nearly $500,000 million. The fiscal hole was of such magnitude that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asked to find a solution.
The Undersecretariat for Energy -which depends on the secretariat of the same name- announced Friday that it has reached an agreement with 11 distributors and 5 cooperatives, to regularize 210,000 million dollars which were awaiting collection. The government will allow them to refinance their debt before August 31, 2022, when segmentation has started to apply. It will also forgive them the debt, even if the name chosen for this mechanism is “compensation”. The amount that has been forgiven exceeds $62,000 million.
During the debate for the 2022 Budget Law, it has been established that the electricity distributors will have to be updated with Cammesa from March 2023. To achieve this, they have been offered a plan to refinance their debts, which also includes “repayments”, or penalties. This is money that companies no longer owe to the national state.
The adjustments in the electricity bills were given by the elimination of subsidies in one item that makes up the bill: the production of electricity. Sectors identified as “high-income” or that have opted out of subsidies – for example because they want access to the “savings dollar” – are losing a third of the state’s two-month discounts. The first was in Oct-Nov, the next is now (Dec-Jan 2023) and the next one will be Feb-March 2023.
Since then, nearly 5 million households will pay the full cost of electricity. On the other hand, the State will continue to subsidize this component – the one with the greatest impact on bills – for medium sectors, albeit to a lesser extent than in the 2020-2022 period. Vulnerable sectors will keep the same subsidies now.
The state subsidizes the cost of generation, i.e. the electricity consumed by households. But the companies that bring that electricity into homes aren’t subsidized. In all provinces they recompose the rates in agreement with the authorities of their districts. The only ones who have been exempt from this regime are Edenor and Edesur, which are under the orbit of the nation state. It also happens with those in the interior of the province of Buenos Aires (Edelap, Eden, Edes), since the Buenos Aires government implements guidelines similar to those of the National Executive.
With the 2023 Budget Law, an ordinance was also issued to align the tariffs of Buenos Aires and the suburbs with those of the rest of the country. Edenor and Edesur have a “distribution value added” (VAD), which is the remuneration for their service, almost frozen, while the distributors of the interior have been able to increase their amounts. A public hearing will be held in the coming weeks to discuss the matter. Distributors claim their rates are 300% lower.
Edesur owed, as of August 31, more than 66,000 million dollars. Of that total, it will refinance $47 billion. The rest (19,000 million) corresponds to the “compensation”.
“The fee arises from what is regulated by article 40 of the 2021 Budget, and from what followed. There it was established that the equivalent of five invoices that each distributor had to pay to Cammesa in 2020 could be ‘offset’”, they explain in Energy.
According to Energía, it is not a “forgiveness”. “These bills had to have a specific destination, such as subsidizing demand, investment, energy efficiency. In this way, the granting body, the regulator and the distributors presented a work plan to the Secretariat of Energy and, on the basis of this work plan, compensation is awarded provided they respect the promised agreement, pay the current bill and the debt”, they explain in Energia.
Edenor was $57,000 million in debt. It will pay $33 billion. About 24,000 million registered as “compensation”. The distributor changed its majority shareholder. It ceased to belong to Pampa, to be in the hands of a group controlled by José Luis Manzano and Daniel Vila. Both are friends of Economy Minister Sergio Massa.
Edemsa di Mendoza, also from Vila-Manzano, also got a third of the fee. Her original debt was $11,249 million and is now $7,384 million. The $3.865 million difference was “offset”.
The missionary Emsa owed 19,000 million dollars. You signed up to a $16.3 billion payment plan. The rest was compensated.
Sechep of Chaco owed $17.675 million. Wrote $3.251 Million as “Compensation” and refinanced the remaining $14.4 billion.
Three Chubut cooperatives (Rawson, Sarmiento and Trelew) have accumulated $13,000 million in the red with Cammesa. Nearly 10 billion dollars will be returned and paid. $3 billion is listed as “offset.”
Edelar of La Rioja has accrued a liability to Cammesa of $9.285 million. You will have to pay $7,765 in installments, while $1,520 million will record them as “offset”. Cordovan Epec – one of the most expensive tariffs in the country – had a debt of 5,326 million dollars. You won’t have to pay anything. The full amount will be “returned” as compensation, if the official interpretation of this agreement is followed.
NS
Source: Clarin
