The Ministry of Economy is currently considering further adjustments to energy and gas bills, in what it calls an “ordering” of prices in the sector, within the framework of the review of public accounts that includes a reduction and elimination of subsidies.
Under this umbrella, the minister Luis Caputo will authorize a price increase again that will reach users, both for electricity and gas consumption rates. The expected increase would have a 4% impact on the final price for both services, according to official estimates.
It should be remembered that, as I had anticipated, Scope early last month, The Government has ordered that the electricity and gas rates have a raise close to 4% for the month of August. According to private studies, public service rates are far from covering costs. On average, 40% of electricity, 32% of gas and 94% of water are paid. according to Ecolatina.
The Government will increase electricity and gas prices while applying a reduction to the PAIS Tax to contain inflation
The implementation will take place in parallel with the reduction of the PAIS Tax for the import of goods and services, a measure that the Government hopes will result in a drop in the prices of some products and services. “I think it will lead to a price reduction in September,” Caputo said.
The minister emphasized that It is key that this price reduction occurs with the reduction of the tax “because if people see that we remove the PAIS tax and they receive nothing, what good did it do?” If the economist’s prediction comes true, the impact of tariffs on the Consumer Price Index could be mitigated by the slowdown in other sectors.
Electricity, gas and water, the new increases that are coming in rates
In parallel to the rise of the light and the gas, A new increase in water and sewage rates will also be applied next month. Aysa, which will be around 4.48%. The Secretariat of Public works published the adjustments that will begin to apply from September consumption.
The average bill without taxes will go from $18,799 to $19,621. With taxes of at least 21%, the monthly bill will exceed $23,700. After the removal of subsidies in April, which implied a 209% increase, the values are updated every month according to a polynomial formula that takes into account the wage index (IS), the internal wholesale price index (IPIM) and the consumer price index (CPI).
The subsidies to public services fell by 34% in the annual accumulation during the first five months of the year, according to a report by the Tariffs and Subsidies Observatory of the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy (IIEP), which depends on the UBA and Conicet.
The report found that the main economic subsidies The Water, Energy and Transport sectors had an accumulated annual growth of 157% in May compared to the same period of the previous year and therefore their real variation shows a reduction of 34% accumulated annually in the period.
Source: Ambito