Guzmán orders Energy Secretary to lead hearings to raise charges

Coexistence in the Ministry of Economy became tense at the start of hearings to raise electricity and gas bills. And even the San Cayetano sanctuary built by the UPCN on one of the floors of the building does not seem to be able to ensure peace. had to go down an order from the highest in the last hours for the Secretary of Energy, Darío Martínez, to preside.

Alberto Fernández and Martín Guzmán conveyed to him the following: “The responsibility that the process of updating rates isea cash is from the Secretary of Energy”. Until the weekend, from Energy, they made sure Guzmán’s team would take the lead on the call. Finally, Martinez hired and appointed three officers, one per audience, to lead them. “Darío Martínez will oversee the operation,” official sources confirmed.

In particular, the undersecretary of hydrocarbons, Maggie Videla, will lead the virtual session on Tuesday to discuss the gas rate, the chief of staff, Guillermo Usandivaras, will participate on Wednesday in the electric power session, and the undersecretary of Energy Planning, Santiago López Osornio will preside over the last one on Thursday to show the segmentation of subsidies.

Despite requests from consumer associations close to Kirchnerism for Guzmán to participate, the minister will not speak at the hearings. Most likely, he will monitor the discussion from afar, as he may even accompany the President on his tour of Europe.

The atmosphere in the halls of the Treasury bihira in recent weeks, as revealed by documents crossed Guzmán’s swords along with Electric Power’s undersecretary, Federico Basualdo.

In an official document, Osornio considers “destructive” a report from the reporting officer to Cristina Kirchner. There, Basuldo estimates youwhich rose to 65% for most users, more than Guzmán’s 42.7% prediction for the full year.

In another report, Treasury secretary Raúl Rigo, denied that subsidy reduction was “invalid” and calculates that the savings of $ 163,463 million in subsidies would have represented a 100% increase in the Alimentar card.

Finally, the Secretary of Economic Policy, Fernando Morran, said in a document addressed to Martínez that, if rates do not rise, there will be an increase in subsidies. This, according to the official, would mean greater indebtedness or assistance from the Central Bank to finance this cost, which would cause exchange rate and inflationary pressure.