Martín Guzmán, in the sight of all.
One week before hearings begin to raise electricity and gas bills for the second time this year, energy distributors have not yet received information on the criteria for segmentation of subsidies. The Government has identified several modalities in recent weeks, but without asking for data from companies or explaining how the new methodology will work.
“All we have is what was made public, they did not contact us or ask us anything, many questions. about what segmentation ceilings would be, but we didn’t take care of that and they didn’t consult us. Next week there will be hearings and the call is still not in the Official Gazette, the ground is very muddy“, they pointed to a spirited.
As Clarín reported yesterday, the Ministry of Economy defined socioeconomic criteria in April to determine whether households should maintain nationwide subsidies. According to that measure, the income level of the sector with the highest purchasing power should be 3.5 main basket for a family of four, which in March represented $ 314,000.
Thus, those above that threshold will no longer receive subsidies for the inclusion of the 10% of users with the greatest ability to pay. The report of the undersecretary of Energy Planning shows that a family of four with an average income of $ 266,000 per month in 2021 received electricity and gas subsidies of $ 6,000 on average.
This group also includes owners of luxury airplanes or boats, those who own three or more registered properties or three or more motor vehicles that are five years old or younger. Is about a “complementary” standard to the Electricity Regulatory Entity (IN RE)used the value of properties in 13 AMBA neighborhoods.
Economic segmentation considers that companies, regulatory entities and enforcement authorities provide information to the service owner (name, surname, DNI, CUIT/CUIL) and to the supply (meter number, consumption , location, address). And then, it crosses over to the wealth and income data of the National Tax and Social Identification System (SINTyS).
The proposal includes a request for reconsideration in case the user belongs to the wrong group, but companies are awaiting hearings to get more information. “They have different ways of segmenting, neighborhood by neighborhood, people can ask for reconsideration, but we will know all that on the third day.“, they pointed to another company.
The new tariff scheme agreed with the IMF contemplates three groups: 1) for social rate beneficiaries, the increase will be 21.4%; 2) for the intermediate sector (no social tariff nor part of the higher income sector), it will be 42.7% on average; and 3) the 10% with the highest level of resources will pay the full amount, with increases exceeding 100%.
The hearing on May 10 is to determine the price of gas at the wellhead (PIST), on the 11th will review the cost of electricity (PEST), and on the 12th the removal of subsidies to the richest 10%. How in March there was an increase in rates of 20%now it will remain to apply in June an increase of between 17 and 21% for the intermediate sector and up to 80% or more for those with higher incomes.
For specialists, implementation will not be easy. In the case of electricity, the national government only sets cost values in the AMBA, while the provinces determine their own distribution prices. The problem is that some have already made increases of up to 42.7% in the intermediate segment and don’t know if they need to apply new adjustments or not.
The same challenge will show the social fare within. “We find segmentation barbaric, it’s a good idea, now I see it as difficult to carry out. If you cross patterns, you can get data from AFIP, ANSES, from social plans, in countries and Puerto Madero, it’s easy, but in Recoleta there are also retirees and teachers“, they pointed to another energy company.
Source: Clarin
