The Secretary of EnergyThe $62,000 million debt owed to electricity distributors was forgiven. But, in addition, it has granted them a refinancing plan of 96 installments for the liabilities that will remain in place.
Furthermore, he also agreed to discount interest (corresponding to 2020-2022) for the debts that Cammesa will finally go to collect.
The decision has been under development for three years, with the participation of various energy ministers and undersecretaries. In between, there were internal oppositions, disagreements, and even fears of provoking a scandal of proportions.
The origin of the mess is in the pandemic. Households had the option of not paying the bill, as the distributors could not interrupt their supply, by presidential decree. Thousands of customers stopped paying their bills, as this would have no effect on service delivery.
In this way distributors found themselves with fewer resources to pay for the electricity consumed by their customers. They collected less – due to customers who stopped paying -, but they still had to pay for the electricity that Cammesa delivered to them.
An attempt was made to fix the “red” that was generated in 2020 in 2021. In that year’s budget it was established that distributors could discount “up to 5 average bills” of your payment to Cammesa. In 2021, however, the debt was no longer what it was in 2020. It had grown due to the interest accumulated to date.
In late 2020, Daniel Vila and José Luis Manzano bought control of Edenor. Entrepreneurs have set out to regularize the debt. The rest of the distributors would also benefit from the measure.
Several payment plans have been outlined, but with reduced interest. For this, the consent of Cammesa and of the Undersecretary for Electricity, which was presided over by Federico Basualdo, was needed.
The former Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, he called for Basualdo’s resignation, because the official refused to raise tariffs on the scales that the Economy wanted. Kirchnerism sided with Basualdo and defended him. The Undersecretary for Electricity came out strengthened. And from there he made the decision to try to settle the debt of the electricity companies, but without the concessions that some companies were asking for.
His decision to seek a deal, but not at all costs, has also put him in the crosshairs of some electrical contractors. From the Vila-Manzano camp they suggested that he was “inflexible” and that they preferred to negotiate with another interlocutor. The 2022 budget also included clauses for renegotiating the debt with Cammesa, but Basualdo remained firm in his position.
The situation changed in September 2022, with the arrival of Sergio Massa to the Ministry of Economy. With keyboard in hand, he ordered the changes in the Secretariat of Energy. He replaced Darío Martínez, who he replaced with Flavia Royón from Salta, an official characterized in society prone to dialogue. Y removed Basualdo, replaced by Santiago Yanotti, who was at Cammesa and knows the sector.
To complete the picture, the refinancing of 96 installments to the distributors of their debt has arrived in the 2023 Budget Law. But there was no talk of “compensation” for the losses that the distributors had, which justified the “forgiveness” of the debt. Nor to write off the interest accrued between 2020 and 2022.
The Undersecretary for Energy has repeatedly doubted the advisability of signing an agreement, according to the interlocutors who spoke with her on the subject. But there was a direct order from the minister to move in that direction.
Source: Clarin
