Natural gas rates increased in the first half of last year between 400% and 745% According to the income segment, well above the inflation of the period, and then they have been accompanying the average price rise in the economy. Despite thisthe purity percentage went from 3.49% in December 2023 to 3.07% last Marchone of the lowest levels of recent years, according to figures from the Gas Distributors Association. Something similar happened In electricity where delinquency remained between 4% and 5% Despite the increases, as informed Econojournal from the Association of Electric Power Distributor of the Argentine Republic.
The segment that suffered the greatest rate increases was level 2where users of lower resources are concentrated, without impacting the coprability levels. In June of last year, the year -on -year average rise for this group reached 745% in natural gas and 465% in electricity, against inflation that averaged 271.5% in those same 12 months. In addition, to that segment, which had subsidized all its electrical consumption, it was put a top of 350 kWh/month. The percentage rise in rates was higher for the N2 because they were those who had been paying less in absolute terms, since N1 households had begun to pay higher rates since segmentation was launched during the government of Alberto Fernández.
The subsidy removal accelerated in recent months, but that either made delinquency either. In the last report raised by the Cabinet Headquarters to Congress, it is detailed that between July 2024 and April 2025 the number of users N2 fell in natural gas from 3,538,866 to 3,109,706 (-12.2%) and in electricity of 8,382,271 to 6,244,657 (-25.5%). The majority of these users became N1, with substantially higher rates, since in gas that group climbed in the same period of 3,689,640 to 4,147,846 of households (+12.4%) and in electricity of 5,035,352 to 6,918,821 households (+37.4%).
Why keep paying
EconoJournal He talked with distributors to see why the coprability rates not only did not get worse, but improved during the last year and a half. There is no clear explanation, although from the companies they explained a series of hypothesis.
One of the explanations that formulate is that delinquency did not increase because, despite strong percentage increases, rates are not faces compared to other expenses of the economy. “An annual average average average average invoice in January 2024 was 4700 pesos and today is at 26,000 pesos, it is an increase of 500%but compared to other expenses is an absolutely payable invoice, ”said one of the sources consulted.
That the invoice is not so expensive compared to other services, such as cable television, it can explain why delinquency did not increase, but does not allow to understand why that delinquency fell, for example, with respect to December 2022, when in real terms it was lower and the percentage of those who did not pay was located in the case of gas in 4.76%. “The problem is that at that time we came from pandemia when delinquency rose a lot, both because of the impact it caused on the purchasing power of users and the restrictions that were fixed to companies when applying cuts in the service. Indeed, effectively, In December 2022 the purity percentage was 4.76%, but because we came from a delinquency of 8.87% in December 2020”, Highlighted the same source.
In companies, they recognize that pandemic was undoubtedly a turning point in delinquency. In fact, from one of the distributors they highlighted EconoJournal that the management of everything that refers to collection was perfected after the pandemic with the Shipping of successive personalized notices to users, either by mail or by WhatsApp.
From another of the distributors they also highlighted that as the amounts of the invoices are now higher, probably Many users try not to delay so that they are not generated a snowball That it becomes unpayable: “The truth is that we are quite clueless about what the causes of the low delinquency can become, but perhaps it has to do with the fact that, if you used to pay about 5000 pesos per month at values of now, if you behind you two or three months later you paid everything together and it was not a big problem. Now, instead, if you come paying 30 thousand pesos per month, if you stop paying three months, you are already paying for three months.
