Due to the reduction of subsidies for electricity and gas services provided by the national government, the bills that arrive in July at homes in the Region will already show the strong increases which have been anticipated for some time as a product, precisely, of the removal of these state subsidies. The Province reported that the increases will be up to 80 percent in the case of Edelap and up to just over 600 percent for Camuzzi users. The greatest impacts will be in the lowest income residential categories.
This was reported by the Undersecretariat of Energy of the Province when announcing the new tariff schedules that will govern the different energy distributors in the Buenos Aires territory since June and that will be paid next month.
The provincial Undersecretary of Energy, Gastón Ghiani, pointed out, specifically, that the new Edelap bills will have an increase of 14 percent for N1 users (high income), 69 percent for those classified as N3 (medium income), and 80 percent for the N2 consumer group (low income).
“It is a regressive system that aims to reduce subsidies for low- and middle-income users,” said Ghiani.
Even more will be paid for the supply of natural gas. Borrower Camuzzi’s bills will increase 299 percent for N1 users (high income), 604 percent for families in the N2 segment (low income), and 367 percent for the N3 category (middle income).
User segmentation is organized based on user income according to the “basic basket”, whose last measurement by INDEC placed it at 828,158.19 pesos.
According to this categorization, N3 residential areas are even a basic basket; the N2 between 1 and up to 3.5 basic basket; and N1, more than 3.5 basic baskets.
Examples of new amounts
These are some examples of how the increase will impact according to each segmentation: in the case of N1 users under the orbit of EDELAP and with a consumption of 150 KWh/month, including taxes, if in March you paid a bill of 22,936 pesos for June you will have to pay 26,634 pesos.
For their part, continuing with the same example of consumption amount, for N2 users, if electricity cost them 8,133 pesos in March, in June it will cost them 13,695 pesos.
Finally, those who are within the N3 band, for 150 KWh/month, and who in March paid a bill of 8,322 pesos, for the same consumption in June will have to face an expense of 16,740 pesos.
As said, the blow to the pocket that the home gas service will “deal” will be stronger, since the bills will present increases substantially greater than those for electricity, with a floor of 299 percent and reaching 604 percent for people of lower income.
A residential user category R31 of Camuzzi, belonging to the N1 segment and with winter consumption, who in March paid a bill of 11,285 pesos with taxes, in June it will go to 46,499 pesos, which represents a variation of 299 percent.
On the other hand, users of the same category, but in the N2 segment, would have to pay 39,661 pesos in June when in March the bill was 4,896 pesos. That means an increase of 604 percent.
On the other hand, in the N3 segment the ticket that was 8,736 pesos in March in June would jump to 40,615 pesos, which means an increase of 367 percent.
