Turning on the lights, cooking, and taking hot showers will all be more expensive starting Sunday. The Government announced this Friday in the Official Gazette the increases in gas and electricity services starting with consumption on September 1st. The winners of this measure are the privatized companies, while another increase is being planned for next month, which will have to be faced by salaries, pensions and social programs.
In the coming days, the regulatory bodies will publish the tariff tables of the respective public services that will complete an average increase of 4% starting next month for bills received by households, businesses and industries.
Through a resolution published in the Official Gazette, the Energy Secretariat established an increase in the Seasonal Price of Electric Energy (PEST), that is, the cost of electricity that reaches homes. In the same sense, price increases were established for gas at the Point of Entry to the Transport System (PIST).
Milei’s rate hikes
This increase in electricity and gas prices is a new blow to the pocketbook, since in September there will also be increases in Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos (AYSA), 4.48%, fuels (+3% average throughout the country), and also the increase in the bus fare due to the removal of subsidies in the City and province of Buenos Aires.
He cost of the AMBA public services basket in August it increased 380% based on increases in transportation rates (January and February), electricity (February, June, and August), water (April, July, and August), and natural gas (April, June, and August) compared to December 2023, according to the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy (IIEP).
The IIEP report details that “in the breakdown by service, it is observed that the most significant increase was in the natural gas rate with an increase of 1,132% compared to December 2023 and is explained both by the rate increases in April, June and August and by the increase in winter seasonal consumption. Spending on transportation increased by 484%, on water by 267% and on electricity by 204%.”
IIEP points out that The AMBA public services basket for August represents 14.3% of the average registered salary estimated for the month, while In December it was 6.2%. This shows the blow to wages caused by rate increases.
While the pockets of the people are punished with high rates, privatized companies earned millions in the first months of the year. According to a CIFRA report, Metrogas earned $19,116 million in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 1,630% compared to the same period in 2023, and Edenor $50,867 million in the first three months of the year.
Companies earned millions, but the service deteriorated, a report by the Compañía Administración del Mercado Mayorista Eléctrico SA (Cammesa) warned of the risk of blackouts next summer, a classic.
We must end the business of privatized companies, and that the entire energy system (that is, all stages of production: resource extraction, electricity generation, transportation and distribution to users) be nationalizedwhich is managed by the workers and specialized technicians themselves, implementing a sustainable national plan to guarantee the population a cheap and quality service and to carry out the energy transition.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
