The Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royón, stressed that, “regardless of the international situation”, it was necessary “to move towards a much fairer energy subsidy system”, and advanced that next week the subsidized gas consumption limits will be publishedjust like what was done with electricity.
“Apart from the international situation and this situation that caused all energy prices to rise, we had to move towards a system of energy subsidies that is much fairer where if there is a subsidy, it is for those who really need it”, Royón affirmed in dialogue with América TV.
In this sense, Royón reiterated that, in “this first stage”, there will be no update or limit on subsidized electricity consumption for users included in the social rate.
“A person with medium or high income who has not applied for (the subsidy) is going to lose them”Flavia Royon
This group of users will be the only one to maintain the subsidies despite not registering in the form for this purpose, while, on the contrary, they recalled that “a person with medium or high income who has not applied for (the subsidy) will lose”.
“Previously we came from a scheme where the subsidy was for everyone and today we are moving to a voluntary registry,” said the official, stressing that the subsidy reductions -of 20% in the first tranche- will apply to the consumption made from September 1and will be reflected in the monthly invoices for October or bimonthly for November, as appropriate.
He pointed out that the subsidized consumption limit of 400 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month is “generous” since -he indicated- “80% of families consume less than this” and “a typical home consumes between 200 and 250 kWh”.
In relation to gas, and as with the cap of 550 kWh in northern provinces without access to natural gas, Royón stressed that “variability and dispersion” was taken into account and that one cannot “have the same consideration with a person from the south.
In this sense, he announced that next week the monthly limits of subsidized gas consumption “according to the category and the distributor” will be published -and will be updated monthly-.
On the other hand, in statements to radio station La Red, he stated that increases in electricity and natural gas services will be “reasonable” within the framework of a scheme of “fairer and better thought rates”, while advocating for an “efficient use of energy” and “fiscal order”.
Likewise, he maintained that the increases in the electric service for businesses, offices and consortiums will be variable, according to the surface and how they are declared, but that in all cases their impact on the rates, as well as on inflation, will be “less “.
Royon pointed out that “there is no increase in rates as seen in other parts of the world, where average wages go directly to paying for energy”a case that “is not that of Argentina”, in which “these increases go below the Salary Variation Coefficient, they are reasonable increases and today they are needed to bring fiscal order”.
In this regard, he indicated that “in 2019, the coverage of the cost of energy in an average salary weighed 5.4% and today, with this adjustment, the average for 2022 will weigh 2.5%”.
When asked if it was appropriate to classify this adjustment as a “great rate”, Royón clarified that “the increases on average, depending on what one consumes, range between 200 and 550 pesos, they are reasonable.”
In respect of how increases will impact building consortiapointed out that “there is no official registry” and just as some are residential users, others are framed as general users, like many offices.
“In any of the cases, the increases are reasonable,” he reiterated, in addition to explaining that “20% of the subsidy is withdrawn in the first tranche” and stressing that “the weight of electricity over what may be the is less, it shouldn’t trigger its value”.
In the same sense, he indicated that “an average of $1,500 is going to be increased for a small business, with a larger surface it could be in the order of $8,000 on an estimated bill of $33,000, these are relatively minor increases” .
