A type family of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) that is categorized as “Level 1 (N1)” in the energy rate segmentation – “high income” – will spend about $139,356 on average to cover your consumption of electricity, gas, trips on public transportation (trains and buses) and spending on water. This implies that will allocate 16% of an average registered salary to the payment of public services -which is estimated to reach $870,000 in June-, according to a report by the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy (IIEP) of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and Conicet.
Although this proportion grew rapidly from the 6% it represented at the beginning of 2024, when the bus and electricity rate increases began, Users pay only 40% of the total cost of these serviceswhile the national State contributes the remaining 60%.
It is expected that in the second semester the path of lower public spending on subsidies will continue, so that public services may increase their weight on salaries, unless they begin to rise above inflation and in line with of a reactivation of the economy.
Of those $139,356, about $41,504 per month corresponds to the electricity bill, in which an AMBA “N1” family pays 40% of the actual cost; about $36,136 corresponds to gas, where 32% of the full supply price is contributed; $20,631 for water, a service in which 94% of its cost is paid; and $40,906 in transportation, in which only users contribute 22%, according to the report coordinated by economists Alejandro Einstoss and Julián Rojo.
Only taking into account electricity and gas, Energy services will take between 3.8% and 6.6% of average salaries this month of a worker registered in the AMBA, while its impact on minimum income varies from 1.9% to 13.7%, according to the category of each user in the segmentation.
The effect for the State is that In the first five months of the year there was an adjustment real – after discounting the effect of inflation – 34% in spending on subsidies, which fell to $3.1 billion. Although they decreased sharply, energy subsidies represented 13.4% of primary spending in May, in line with recent years as of 2021.
All in all, the proportion of household spending on services in relation to salaries is reaching the average for Latin America, with the difference that the constant fall in income that has occurred in Argentina since 2018 makes greater progress difficult for The Government lowers subsidies, as requested by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
On the other hand, the IIEP also found a fact that even surprised its researchers: after the subway increase to $650, users of the City of Buenos Aires cover 35% of the operating costs, already above 34% which is paid in New York, United States ($2.90) and just below the 40% of Madrid, Spain (a minimum of 1.50 euros), although still with a large gap compared to the 72% coverage of Santiago , Chile (up to US$ 0.90).
