The The tariff option in the electricity market, accumulated to November 2023, was $5 billion, a debt owed by users to companies energy marketing, which is currently impacting bills, especially in markets such as the Caribbean.
(We suggest: Celsia announced reductions in Air-e and Afinia energy contracts)
In December, The Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission (Creg) presented resolution 101 028, which gives companies the regulations under which they can include in the calculation of the rate the recovery of the balances of this mechanism. This led to By April, $530 billion would have been recovered, According to the Superintendency of Public Services, leaving the balance at $4.5 billion.
SubsequentlyAs of July, Asocodis calculations indicate that the debt has been reduced by up to $4 billion. This means that in some cases the rate has increased substantially for users.
Detailed data from Superservicios shows that some Companies such as Air-e and Enel achieved significant reductions in tariff option balances and between November and April they fell by $204,963 and $125,223 million, respectively.
(You may be interested in: Without a transition plan, they warn of risks to energy security)
The The Creg resolution establishes an agreement that companies could voluntarily accept to defer the balances up to 10 years. Thus, according to the company’s decision, they could pass on to their users in the marketing component a value per kilowatt hour, which would be higher the shorter the term the company chose.
Most companies adopted this alternative presented by the resolution, representing 98% of users.
Information from the Marketing Advisory Committee shows that, for August, Air-e will charge $265.5 per kilowatt hour to its users at the voltage level 1, being the company that is charging the most for this concept.
(Also read: The cost of electricity increased by up to 32% in the country’s companies)
Data from Superservicios show that In April this company had a debt of $663.909 millionwhich has been recovering in rates.
Tariff option.
Private Archive
However, the company that had the largest accumulated balance for April was Afinia said that, according to the Superintendency of Public Services, it had a balance of $1.6 billion accumulated.
And according to the Committee, In August the company can pass on a total of $84.3 per kilowatt in its bills, which indicates that the period to recover this debt is longer than the one chosen by Air-e.
(We recommend: Court admits lawsuit over risks of loss of security and energy sovereignty)
In This region concentrates 50% of the country’s tariff option debt, with $2.3 billion of the total.. Other companies with the highest debt are EPM, to which users owe $665,266 million as of April. Celsia follows, with an accumulated amount of $421,492 million for the fourth month of the year and Enel with $253,624 million.
The effect of assuming the tariff option
He The National Government announced at the beginning of May that it intends to assume the debt of this mechanism for strata 1, 2 and 3. This means that it would pay around $2.7 billion of these users.
He Stratum 1 is the one that has accumulated the most, with $1.3 billions, followed by stratum 2, with $872,576 million and 3, with $482,821 million.
(We suggest: Energy demand rose 1.44% in July, with increases in Guaviare and the Caribbean)
However, so far no measures have been taken to allow this debt to be assumed. José Camilo Manzur, president of Asocodis, said that It is urgent that the project that allows these balances to be assumed be presented to Congress. and thus remove the collection of users’ debt from the tariff.
The iImpacts vary by regionbut if the Government securitizes this debt in some regions, they could seer falls in the price of the kilowatt of up to 20%. “Companies that chose a shorter time frame to recover the balance will have the strongest impact in the short term.“, explained the union leader.
(Of interest: Termocandelaria and Tebsa aim to have 300 renewable megawatts installed)
In In the Caribbean region, this measure would impact the price of the kilowatt paid by users by between 8% and 20%.according to calculations by Asocodis.
José Camilo Manzur, director of Asocodis.
Alexandra Cepeda
Manzur explained that in Atlántico, Magdalena and La Guajira the drop would be around 20%. This is the market covered by Air-e. In the case of Bolívar, Córdoba, Sucre and César the contraction would be between 8% and 9%.
In the rest of the country, the contractions would be different, depending on the balance they are recovering and the time frame they have chosen.
(Read: Drilling halt hits Ecopetrol’s offshore gas exploration plans)
Amid agreements between companies and the Government to reduce ratesthe progress of this announcement could strongly impact the cost of living of households. It is worth remembering that so far, generation companies have announced measures to lower prices in the Caribbean markets. This is the case of EPM, Celsia and AES, which have already presented their plans to reduce the price of contracts.
Daniela Morales Soler
Portfolio Journalist
