The resolutions that made official the new tariff tables of Edenor and Edesur last Friday reduced the consumption categories from 9 to 4 and substantially increased the incidence of the fixed charge in the amount of the final invoice. The largest adjustment of the fixed charge fell on the highest consumption. Therefore, all those who consume more than 600 kWh per month will pay a fixed charge of 30,391.2 pesos, regardless of their income level, to which the variable charge and taxes must be added. In those segments with the highest consumption, the increases are between 240 and 300 percent, significantly higher than what was announced by the Ministry of Energy.
The portfolio led by Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo announced last Thursday that the electricity increases for users in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) were going to be 150% for households that do not have a subsidy (N1), 65%. for the middle sectors (N3) and 70% for low-income users (N2). However, the rate tables show a different reality, especially for those who consume the most.
A low-income household (N2) that consumes, for example, 610 kWh per month will pay 30,391.2 pesos for a fixed charge and 19,264 pesos for a variable charge (610 kWh x 31.58 pesos). That means that you will have to pay 49,655 pesos without taxes, 306.5 percent more than what you have been paying until now.
This increase is mainly explained because the fixed charge that must be paid shot up from 5,713.6 to 30,391.2 pesos, 431 percent. The variable charge, on the other hand, rose only from 10.66 to 31.58 pesos per kWh, 196 percent. That’s because the wholesale price of electricity for the middle and lower sectors remained relatively stable because the government has not yet begun to review the subsidy regime. This will only be done in the public hearing that is scheduled for February 29 of this month.
After that hearing, where the Ministry of Energy will present the new subsidy and income segmentation scheme, the variable charge will be adjusted even further for the majority of middle and lower class users. In fact, those who no longer pay the subsidy pay the substantially more expensive variable charge. For example, an R4 user who does not have a subsidy pays 87.11 pesos per kWh, while a low-class user in that same consumption segment pays 31.58 pesos. In the case of the middle class, what they consume below 400 kWh is paid at 32.46 pesos per kWh, while consumption that exceeds that limit must be paid at 87.11 pesos per kWn, the same price paid by those who do not have a subsidy.
The increase is not only greater than announced for the highest consumption but also for the rest of the categories. A medium-income R1 will pay around a 130 percent increase and a low-income R1 a little less than 130 percent, despite the fact that the government had anticipated that in the first case the increase would be around 65 percent. percent and in the second it would be 70 percent.
Indexed rates
The government also confirmed last week that Edesur and Edenor rates will begin to be indexed monthly starting in May. To do this, an indicator will be taken as a reference that will consider the variation in salaries, wholesale inflation and retail inflation. In the new index, wage variation will have a weight of 55 percent, wholesale inflation 25 percent and retail inflation 20 percent.
Commerce and industries
Last Friday, increases also came into force for businesses and industries that are supplied with electricity through the Edesur and Edenor networks. In these cases, the increases reach up to 400 percent, which suggests difficult situations for many small and medium-sized businesses who will have to face a sharp increase in their costs at the same time that demand falls as a result of the strong economic recession.
