Edenor and Edesur requested an
emergency increase
in electricity bills.
Both accused the "granting power" (the national State) of not complying with the regulatory framework that governs the provision of electrical service in Buenos Aires.
Its directors stated that they have been losing money and need
an immediate increase in bills of between $1,000 and $1,500 a month to not continue having red in 2023
.
It was at a “virtual” public hearing held on Monday.
Walter Martello, comptroller of the regulatory entity (Enre) began the hearing with the tip caps.
12 days ago, the CEO of the owner of Edesur said that the company was leaving Argentina because "the country has the most bizarre regulation in
the world," as
Clarín reported
exclusively
.
The official took the opportunity to answer him in very harsh terms.
And, at the same time, he seemed to postpone the definition of the tariffs until the last quarter of 2023, that is, after the presidential elections.
“We believe that what is truly bizarre, in the sense of '
weird and extravagant
' as defined by the Royal Spanish Academy,
is to claim first world rates while offering a third world quality of service
”, said Martello. Francesco Starace, CEO of Enel, expressed at Harvard that Edesur "in the future will work with local investors."
"They cannot manage a business in a non-competitive market and with captive users," crossed Martello, in an attack on Edesur.
"Distributors are not going to get the rate they ask for, but rather the one that users can pay
in the current economic context and social," he anticipated.
"We are evaluating the possibility of holding a new public hearing on rate adaptation in the fourth quarter of this year," he added.
A third of households
have been experiencing increases in electricity bills since October
.
But that increase does not remain in the hands of the distributors.
This increase is so that the national State subsidizes less the cost of electricity.
It is part of the segmentation process.
The Secretary of Energy decided to remove subsidies to the so-called high-income sectors, who earn more than
$400,000 per month or want to have access to the "savings dollar."
Those customers will pay the electric cost without discount from February.
Until now, they had partial subsidy withdrawals.
But Edenor and Edesur did not have increases in this segmentation process.
They charge their clients more, but the money goes to Cammesa, or to the generators, they argue.
For this reason, they are demanding that they be allowed increases at the rate of inflation for this year.
Edesur stated that half of its clients pay $1,800 per month.
And that, without increases for its service, it would lose almost $120,000 million
this year.
In 2020 and 2021 he also scored similar reds.
Federico Méndez, from Edenor, did dare to clarify how the requested increase would be transferred to the ballots.
According to his numbers, with the recomposition they are asking for,
80% of residential users would pay almost $2,800 per month
.
In the event that they do not obtain that increase, Edenor would lose more than $200,000 million.
The Legislative Power voted in the 2023 budget that both companies were going to have their rates regularized this year. It was also highlighted that the distributors could renegotiate their debts with the wholesale administrator Cammesa, to which they owed for unpaid invoices from 2020 and 2021.
In that decision, Edesur was forgiven debts for $19,000 million and Edenor, for $24,000 million of capital
.
In addition, they were also allowed not to pay another million in interest.
"What is being discussed in this hearing is that variation in costs due to inflation is recognized by Edesur," said Jorge Lemos, from that distributor.
Although his presentation was written before hearing Martello's criticism, the executive showed some definitions from the Energy Secretariat in relation to distributors.
"The lack of periodic updating of the distribution value added (VAD) - the service provided by companies - negatively affects the management of distributors and quality," Energía detailed in a document where it analyzed the state of the sector in 2022.
Edesur showed that the electricity rates of the distributors in Buenos Aires are the lowest in the country.
In Mendoza, the company that provides the same service charges almost two and a half times more.
The average tariff in Argentina is US$120 per MWh (a measure of the sector), but in Buenos Aires this service is paid US$70.
Distributors
keep 17% of what they charge customers on bills
.
More than half goes to generators, and 25% is taxes.
That happens in Buenos Aires.
In the interior -especially in Córdoba, Santa Fe and Tucumán, for example-, the distributors are left with a greater share of the tickets.