The next natural gas bills will begin to arrive with increases that in the case of residential users exceed the 500% compared to what they paid in 2023. For businesses and industries they are above 1,000%, and could be higher in the winter.
The Ministry of Energy postponed the implementation of a high tariff that it planned to apply from April, then May, and then June. The consulting firm Economía y Energía, run by Nicolás Arceo, estimated the bills that users will pay for their consumption starting in April according to the tables published by the National Gas Regulatory Entity (Enargas).
Electricity rate: what increases will come by category
The increases for those in the N1 segment (highest income) will be around 343%. They paid $6,821 in May 2023 and in April they jumped to $30,207 according to the new tables.
For users within N2 (low income), the jump will be 559%, since they went from paying $3,000 to $19,000. For their part, N3 (middle income) will see an increase of 424% between what they paid in May 2023 and the rate table that will govern. From $4,891 to $25,629 in their natural gas rates.
Users categorized as SGP 1, 2 and 3 are businesses and industries, which do not have the price of natural gas generation subsidized. That is why they will suffer the largest increases on average.
- SGP1 users, mostly small businesses, They will pay their April rates with a jump of 1,140% if May 2023 ($1,154) was purchased with April 2024 ($19,272). It is a jump of 237% in real terms.
- For the medium SGP 2, they will have an increase of 799% in that same period. From $6,690 in May 2023 to $60,172 in April 2024. The increase in real terms is 145%.
- In the case of SGP 3, small industries, the increase is 318% nominal from almost $105,000 to $438,319 in April 2024. That jump is smaller in real terms, 14%.
Caputo’s justification
The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, justified the postponement of the increases in electricity and gas rates by maintaining that, for now, “We should not burden the middle class with more expenses”. The official responded to a tweet from a journalist, who on Tuesday had written that by delaying the increases “the Government’s obsession with reducing inflation begins to collide with the basis of the economic program: eliminating the deficit from the State accounts.”
“It’s exactly the other way around. Because we are comfortable fiscally, we prioritize lowering inflation and not burdening the middle class with expenses anymore,” Caputo said in his X account.
