The national government has decreed a new increase in gas and electricity bills for businesses, industries and homes. Unlike previous increases, this time all of the additional revenue will go to reducing spending on subsidies.
The Ministry of Energy has also adjusted the maximum subsidized consumption for low- and middle-income households, and is moving forward with the elimination of subsidies for high-income families. This change, effective retroactive to June 1, will result in increases exceeding 156% and, in some cases, reaching more than 200%.
Furthermore, all these increases are accumulated on top of existing rates. Higher-income households have seen adjustments of between 300% and 400% in both electricity and gas.
Through four resolutions published in the Official Gazette this Wednesday, Energy has simplified the gas and electricity tariff scheme that applied to the three levels of segmented households – high (N1), low (N2) and medium (N3) -. It has also spread the cost of the subsidy cut across all users, unlike in previous months, where increases for low- and middle-income residential users remained unchanged.
According to the Ministry of Energy, the average value of final gas bills for an N1 user with an average consumption of 149 m³ per month will go from $25,756 to $28,142 (9%); for an N2, with an average consumption of 159 m³, it will go from $15,638 to $20,797 (33%); and for an N3, with an average consumption of 171 m³, it will go from $24,465 to $26,865 (10%).
Regarding electricity, with an average residential consumption of 260 kWh per month, the average value of the final bills for an N1 will go from $24,710 to $30,355 (23%); for an N2, from $6,295 to $12,545 (100%); and for an N3, from $6,585 to $16,850 (156%).
For gas, users will pay an average price of US$3.29 per million BTU. Until May, businesses, industries and high-income users paid US$2.94.
For low (N2) and medium (N3) income users, who paid US$0.78 and US$1.16 respectively, the new reference price will also be US$3.29, although with a bonus up to a certain limit of consumption. The N2 will pay 36% of the reference value and the N3, 45%, that is, US$1.18 and US$1.81 respectively. This represents a bonus of 64% and 55%.
As transportation and distribution rates remain unchanged, the impact of the increase will be 6% for all users, accumulating the increase of more than 400% applied in April.
It is important to remember that users registered in the Registry of Access to Energy Subsidies (RASE) do not need to register again to receive the subsidy. Those who have not registered, even if they receive assistance, will be excluded within a period of 60 days.
It should be noted that the strong increases in the first quarter, around 350%, occurred in two components of the bill: energy transportation and distribution.
