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The Government, once again, seeks to run the axis when inflation rises

2023-03-21T01:09:00.002Z


As it happened with previous data of unusual rises in the cost of living, the Executive Branch resorts to 'interventions' and threats to companies.


The problems in the Edesur power line -which mortified thousands of homes in the recent heat wave-

once again serve the Government to find the culprits for its stumbling blocks.

Sergio Massa was silent in the face of the inflation data for February (6.6%), but on Monday he made a presentation in which he pretended to be energetic in the face of power outages.

It is the third time that the Executive Branch resorts to a ruse to install certain issues in public opinion.

Since he can't find words to justify the high inflation,

the move of demonizing a privatization concessionaire, foreign if possible, is becoming commonplace.

Minister Massa appears as an official who listens to companies.

In this sense, he would seem to clash with the core of the ultra-Christian story, where the companies are guilty of all the evils.

With Edesur there is a common space: both sectors can lash out without bothering the other.

Edesur

owns an electrical network that goes underground.

It is different from Edenor's, which is aerial.

Repairs to that wiring are

expensive.

In the last two decades, the electricity regulatory framework -that is, the rules in which companies operate- was only applied in two years: 2017 and 2018. That is, the companies had income to make investments only during those two years .

The Edesur network has shortcomings, as evidenced by each heat spike.

Is the State in a position to make claims in this regard?

Since 2002, the national government has failed to comply with public service concessions.

"Tariff reviews have been breached since 2019," the company wields every time the government criticizes it.

The increases in electricity bills have been running behind inflation in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Perhaps this year they will keep pace with the cost of living.

The 2016-2018 recompositions followed a 2002-2015 period of semi-freezing.

"People want the system to work as if it were Europe, but with Argentine rates," energy experts joke.

Massa was in charge of emphasizing that "the property"

of the company

is not affected .

In other words, the Italian Enel will continue to own 75% of the company.

"Ferraresi is not going to take over the operation of the company," Royón explained.

"He is going to make sure that committed investments are made

," said the official.

The first inflation data from Massa's term as Economy Minister was known on September 14.

The former deputy had assumed office in the first days of August.

During that month, inflation was 7% per month.

However, the day this information was disclosed, the Government

had prepared a criminal complaint against Abertis, the concessionaire of Autopistas del Sol.

The method was

repeated on Tuesday, February 14.

It was when the inflation data for January was known.

During the previous weekend - and even the day before the data was released - Edesur had power interruptions for more than 185,000 homes.

A number more than enough for the political wing of the Frente de Todos to come out to request the expropriation of the company and the removal of the concession.

Wednesday February 15, which could be a day dominated by inflation that does not go down, ended up having the fate of the owners of Edesur as the protagonists of the day.

The inflation data for February - known in March, with a rise of 6.6% that surprised even the most pessimistic - coincided with the last heat wave.

There, power outages

spread to thousands of homes

, lasting longer than on previous occasions.

The damages in the day to day of the homes were immeasurable.

The expropriation of Autopistas del Sol or Edesur is not

in Massa's plans .

The minister is not unaware that Edesur is for sale.

In the Frente de Todos they fear that this shareholding will remain in the hands of Nicolas Caputo, the friend of former President Mauricio Macri.

In that space, they would prefer that the electric company go to other national hands.

"Argentina

has the most bizarre regulation in the world,"

said Francesco Starace, CEO of Italy's Enel at Harvard.

It was when they asked him why the company was leaving Argentina.

His statements fell badly in the Executive Power.

Thus, he added merits so that the ruling party continues to demonize the company.

Source: clarin

All business articles on 2023-03-21

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