The Secretary of Energy is “protected” by Cristina and revives the segmentation rejected by Guzmán

“The minister (of Economy, Silvina Batakis) is putting his team together, as it should be. But I doubt it will enter the Energy area, because that dependency is reserved for the officials chosen by the vice president (Cristina Fernández) ”. The statement, with various nuances, is from an executive officer and an entrepreneur in the energy sector.

This was confirmed by the new Minister of Economy progress will be made with tariff segmentation, which implies an increase in electricity and gas bills in the higher income segments. But hardly anyone in the government believes that the model proposed by former minister Martín Guzmán will be applied and everyone will return to study the “Georeferencing”, or the removal of subsidies to certain neighborhoods.

“The Secretary of Energy, Dario Martínez, continues and officials who report to the vice president such as Federico Basualdo (undersecretary for electricity) and Agustín Gerez (who also manages Argentine energy) “, repeat official sources, confirming what is reported from Clarione on Monday.

the vice president says Federico Basualdo, the undersecretary of electricity and the official who best represents him in terms of compensation. of your team segmentation by georeferencing was releasedthat is, aimed at the neighborhoods with the highest real estate valuation in the city of Buenos Aires, parts of the districts of San Isidro and Vicente López, as well as gated communities and towns.

“The Federico (Basualdo in Electric Power and Bernal, controller of Enargas) are ‘total Christinists’. Nobody will touch them. (Darío) Martínez Gets along with Máximo (Kirchner) and it is also considered “own troop”, but Cristina has it one step lower in her consideration in relation to Basualdo, for example “graphic a businessman and another official source.

Although in companies they are known as the “Federicos” -because they both fight for low rates-, in the government they say that Basualdo continues to have power, while Bernal has moved back a few boxes in the configuration of Kirchneristic preferences.

Close to Martínez, they say their work agendas say as if there have been no changes in the Economy. In this way, it appears that the secretary has gotten some approval from the new minister.

In the government will insist that higher-income families pay a higher amount for electricity and gas bills. But it will no longer be with a recipe like the one that former minister Guzmán wanted to implement. Minister Batakis was expected to answer the matter on a television program on Wednesday evening.

Energy was one of the areas that most clashed with Guzmán. Santiago López Osornio, Undersecretary for Strategic Planning of the Ministry of Energy, he was a sort of “representative” of Guzmán in that addiction. He left without having implemented a form that would have been mandatory for the allocation of subsidies and that the government had promised several times.

“The segmentation that Guzmán was looking for will not be used. We will work on a new model “, said an official source, as can be seen Clarione on Monday.

Electricity and gas bills increased by 21% for the lowest-income sectors and by 42% for the majority of customers, considered “middle class”. No further adjustments are planned so far.

Energy companies (Cammesa, Energía Argentina, YPF) still have to import during this month and next. In recent days, there has been a drop in the price of oil internationally. The barrel is parking closer to $ 100. A month ago, it was $ 120.

Falling oil could ease future purchases of LNG, diesel and fuel oil. These products refer to the barrel of Brent.

In Energy they are studying these purchases, seeing if they can take advantage of the fall to get better prices compared to the first half. Since March, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the quantities of energy products have skyrocketed, complicating the import landscape.