Federico Bernal, head of the Enargas
The gas regulator (Enargas) has approved the new tariff tables for concessions. This implies an increase of between 18% and 25% in what customers pay. Although the regulator has already ordered distributors to adjust their pricing schedules, there is still one more step to take: a public hearing.
The gas price is updated daily. This is called the “accumulated daily difference” and at the hearing where the increase was discussed, this issue was not addressed. By law governing the functioning of the service, the accumulated daily differences (DDA) are the exclusive competence of Enargas.
During the next meeting Enargas will incorporate the accumulated daily differences and there the final increase will be defined. It is estimated that it will be a short process, technician and that it will not substantially modify the increase already arriving.
The Secretary of Energy has ordered Enargas to implement these tariff corrections. But the regulatory body understands that it is not validating them, but doing what you are told.
«The immediacy prepared by Energas for the issue of the aforementioned tables, also based on law no. 27.668, implies that this regulator complies with what has been given, without this constituting in any case a reason for Enargas to cease exercising its powers and which are also directly connected to the function of this self-sufficient body in the regulation of services. public transport and distribution of natural gas “, clarifies the resolution of the body chaired by Federico Bernal.
“Given the substantive issues set out above and those relating to the terms agreed for compliance with the commitments legally assumed by the national State, it will be up to this Agency to carry out all the analyzes and procedural acts that allow citizens to know, in fact, the impact on the tariff charts of the established adequacy “, warns Enargas.
Enargas was unable to carry out that analysis on the new tariffs. “It does not seem feasible at the moment due to the immediacy required by the National Energy Secretariat,” says Enargas as a sort of denunciation in neutral terms.
“The notification has been arranged to this body (Enargas) on an urgent and preferential basis and this, without doubt, also appears as a consequence of what the Secretary of Energy ordered to Enargas”, adds the text.
All of these warnings are read in the industry as a possible period before prosecution. “Some NGOs will object, saying that Enargas could not carry out its functions and this will paralyze everything”, they warn in the private sector.
This gas increase is the second of the year and emerged after a public hearing held in May. Progress was made from there with increases in light and gas, but the segmentation was pending.
The increase will be for the cost of the gas itself. The technical denomination is the “system entry price” (PIST). Distributors will charge their customers for this increase. Since the value of the gas represents between 45% and 50% of the amount paid in the bill, the increase for customers will be between 18% and 25%.
At a previous hearing in March, Enargas had already decided on another 20% ticket increase. But that increase was in “value added distribution” (VAD), which is what companies charge for providing their service.
The state subsidized 75% of the cost of gas in the bill. Starting in June, that subsidy will fall, but it is not known how much.
The Ministry of Economy has decided that gas distributors pay 40% more for this input than they have done so far. The increase may be higher in industrial customers and lower in the case of customers with social tariffs.
All gas concessions are the responsibility of the national Executive Power “After having dealt with the various presentations made in the context of the public hearing, it is up to this instance (Secretariat of Energy) to determine the new Prices at the Entry Point to the Transportation System ( PIST) of natural gas, effective from 1 June 2022 ”, explains a resolution of the Ministry of Energy.
Gas distributors buy this fluid from manufacturers. I agree on a price. One part is covered by the tariff applied to customers and the rest is paid by the state.
The price of gas is agreed in dollars. And the exchange rate sometimes moves in relation to the time of the trade. In 2018, when Javier Iguacel was Secretary of Energy, the peso had depreciated against the dollar and distributors wanted to collect the difference. It is because they had sold the gas for a dollar that was worth less than $ 20, but they were charging for that gas with a dollar that was closer to $ 30.
Production companies charged distributors more in pesos. Which, in turn, tried to charge customers for that difference retroactively. The Secretary of Energy authorized this collection request, but later canceled it and the state assumed the debt.
These day-to-day differences are what Enargas now intends to address in an audition before a final picture. This is due to the exchange rate differences in May, when the hearing was held, in relation to these days, in which the new rate table must be published.
But the difference is that this time the price difference is minimal. And the tariff table is unlikely to move. Furthermore, after the 2018 mess, the Enargas management of those days (led by Mauricio Roitman) developed a mechanism to resolve these differences more clearly, clarifying the responsibilities of producers and distributors.
Source: Clarin
