While the electricity service rate is the highest in the last 30 years measured in relation to the formal salary, the cost of natural gas is about to give bad news to medium and low level users: electricity bills. April will arrive with an increase of around 500% compared to the level they had last year.
Regarding natural gas, Specialists in energy issues calculate that between summer and the beginning of autumn, the National Government put rates at a level similar to that of 2019 for high-income households, after the reduction in the pace of increases during the Alberto Fernández government that followed the steeper increases of the Mauricio Macri era.
The consulting firm Economía y Energía carried out a study to specify the level of increments. It was based on the bills that residential users will pay starting in April according to the tables published by the National Gas Regulatory Entity (Enargas) and the subsidy scheme, which covers the difference between the cost of production and what is actually pay .
This work determined that in May in segment N2, the jump will be 559%: from $3,000 to $19,000 compared to last year. These users are the ones with the lowest income, but they will have the largest jump. Meanwhile, heThe N3 (middle income) will receive a 424% increase between May 2023 and April: from $4,891 to $25,629.
Businesses and industries (GSP categories 1, 2 and 3) do not have a subsidy on the price of natural gas generation and will receive the biggest increases. The SGP1, small businesses, will see a jump of 1,140% when comparing May 2023 ($1,154) with April 2024 ($19,272). For SGP 2, it will increase 799% (from $6,690 to $60,172). For SGP 3, small industries, the increase is 318% ($105,000 to $438,319).
According to Economy and Energy The bills for the N1 residential areas are 17% below the 2019 average. The N2 and N3, 46% and 20%, respectively, are also down.
Electricity
While, A UADE report stated that the electricity rate is equivalent to 3.45% of a seasonally adjusted average salary in the formal sector of the economy.. This is the highest cost in the last thirty years, measured in relative terms.
The work took the Institute of Economics (INECO) as a source, based on data reported by the National Electricity Regulatory Entity (ENRE) and the National Secretariat of Labor.
Globally, and within South America, Argentina’s electricity rate is relatively cheap. The cost is US$ 0.11 per kWh (until last year, in March, the same rate was 0.04 cents) and US$ 27.5 if the basic basket of 250 kWh is considered. The average value of this same basket worldwide is US$42.5 (USD 0.17 per kWh), making the Argentine basket US$15 cheaper.
The study indicated that although a tariff correction for public services is necessary, the new values impact household spending, while the purchasing power of Argentines is falling, putting even more pressure on this phenomenon.
In March 2024, the electricity rate represented 21% of the total basic basket (CBT) measured by INDEC. Just two months earlier, in January, the same rate was equivalent to 10% of CBT. In this framework, with the inflation rate falling, the government postponed already planned rate increases, to distribute them over time.
What is going on in the world
Denmark is the country with the most expensive electricity in the world, with a value of US$ 0.54 per kWh, with a basket of US$ 135, followed by Germany with US$ 130 and the United Kingdom with US$ 117.5. Europe is the region in the world with the highest costs in service rates.
At the same time, Within South America, the country with the highest rate is Uruguay, where you pay US$ 0.24 PER kWh and a basket of US$ 60 per month. Then follows Peru with a basket of US$57 and Brazil with US$50. Paraguay has the cheapest rate with US$0.06 and a basket of US$15.
Before the recent rate increases, Argentina ranked below Paraguay with the lowest values. Currently the service has become more expensive, but compared to other places in the region it is still one of the cheapest countries for access to electricity in homes. (DIB)
