In the middle of the public hearing on electricity rates, in which the Secretary of Energy, Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo, highlighted that the system is "on the verge of collapse", and the two service distributors in the country, Edenor and Edesur, specified
the level of increases that the rates should have for the operation of the business.
Thus, Edenor raised an annual income requirement of $521,303 million,
which implies an average increase of 89% in the bill for 80% of its clients
.
According to the information presented, 80% of Edenor's clients (2.3 million clients) will receive
an average bill of $7,619,
while for 10% of high consumption the average will be $33,771 and for the 10% The remaining amount, due to higher consumption, will be $68,425 on average, always respecting consumption similar to those that have been recorded.
"In the sectors with the highest consumption it implies an average increase of 140%, well below the increases registered in other areas of the economy, or even in other mass consumption services such as Cable TV or Internet," according to the company.
According to a company statement, “Edenor does not receive subsidies from the National Government.
The company is the collecting agent and the one who issues the invoice, but the reality is that of each invoice that is charged to the user, it receives only 29% of the total.
The rest corresponds to generation (47%), taxes (23%) and transportation (1%).", He explained.
“With the new proposed amounts,
Edenor will receive only $2,209 per average bill,
the equivalent of the cost of a bottle of soda,” he compared.
In addition, the distributor proposed a system of periodic rate updates, in line with the inflationary process facing the country.
Edenor distributes 20% of the electrical energy consumed, and provides electrical service to
3.3 million customers
, which means, taking into account the last census, approximately 9 million people.
As for Edesur, the other large distributor in the country that supplies 20% of the country's demand, it indicated through a presentation that “the Public Hearing only covers the impact of inflation on Edesur's remuneration and not the conclusion of a Tariff Review process.”
The firm also considers that
“it is essential to begin and complete a Comprehensive Rate Review process
in order to align remuneration, the update mechanism and the level of quality.”
”It is
necessary to recompose the rate, but considering the general economic situation,
which makes it essential to simultaneously implement a social rate and efficiency plans that help those who really need it,” he highlighted.
According to Edesur's proposal, "income must be sufficient and timely to cover operating, capital and tax costs."
According to their numbers, the company's revenue represents around 27% of the bill.
The company also highlighted that “it is necessary to resolve pending issues from previous periods.
And “in the future, the rate should consider the necessary investment in the resilience of the networks and in the development of the High Voltage network with multi-year planning, analyzing the creation of regulatory instruments for specific purposes to guarantee the execution of these works,” he stated, among other points, in the public hearing.