ENRE, the electricity market regulator, approved on Monday the tariff tables that Edenor and Edesur could start applying from February 1st
According to the institution’s resolutions (177 and 179/2023), the increases compared to 31 January in the category Residential level 1 (users with the highest purchasing power who will stop receiving subsidies) will be 29% on average.
Meanwhile, Level 3 residential users will have average increases of 17% and Level 2 users will maintain current values, without increases.
Since the segmentation was implemented, electricity bills have increased between 100% and 120%, depending on the amount of consumption of each customer. A bill that averaged $2,000 in mid-2022 will cost twice as much in March. In any case, the recomposition is almost at the same level as the annual inflation in 2022 (94.8%).
The cost of electricity accounts for more than half of electricity bills. 56% of what is paid corresponds to this concept. Distributors only (Edenor-Edesur). they keep 17% of what they charge in invoices. The rest are taxes.
Since October, a third of households have had increases in their electricity bills. But that raise doesn’t stay in the hands of the distributors. This increase is such that the nation state subsidizes less the cost of electricity.
Electricity bills contain the cost of electricity itself, the distribution margin of the companies that bring it to homes and taxes. The amount of electricity is regulated by the “monomic price”. At the end of 2022, this amount was $11,700 per MWh (industry measure). At midyear, households were paying less than half ($4,600) of that price. Now, that payout will go up to $9,300 for distributor users. And the total cost has been upgraded to $13,000.
In this way, even if less than before, residential customers will continue to be facilitated.
Big customers run out of subsidies. They have to pay $13,000 per MWh.
The current budget for this year estimates a decline in energy subsidies. The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, did not provide precise numbers but percentages: in 2022 they represent 2.3% of GDP, while in 2023 they will bite 1.6% of that cake.
Specialist estimates calculate that this means going from the US$15,000 million allocated last year for this purpose to a range between US$11,000 million and US$12,000 million by 2023.
Energy experts are studying the impact of their corrections in order to determine whether or not achieving this goal is feasible. It is estimated that Cammesa, the wholesale operator of the system, should collect more because large customers will already pay for electricity without discounts, for example.
Source: Clarin
