The Undersecretary of Industry, Energy and Mining, Walter Verri, spoke about the impact of the regulation system of fuel prices and assured that it is a better regulated market, which allows the population to access information in a transparent manner.
“We have moved towards a better regulated marketin which the price of fuel is transparent for the entire population,” said Verri in dialogue with the media specialized in fuels, Suppliers.
However, he assured that there is still much to do and that they are making progress in a system that will slowly “change towards adequate regulation in order to have better offers.” That is why he evaluates the incidence of Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mining (MIEM) in the fuel sector during the past year.
The use of the PPI and a criticism of the FA
Meanwhile, he also rated positively the use of Import Price Parity (PPI) to set fuel values month by month.
“The setting of the PVP, taking into account the PPI of URSEA It is infinitely superior to what we had before. Today the population knows how much fuel will rise or fall, with the professional judgment of a regulatory unit, absolutely independent of commercial aspects or situations unrelated to the business,” said the undersecretary.
In that sense, he stressed that “if at any time the Uruguayan state decides to “make cash” with the price of fuel, citizens should know it and this system precisely tends to do so.” With this, he took the opportunity to fire shots at the governments of the Wide Front where “cash was made with the fuel in many millions of dollars and the population did not find out.”
For this reason, according to Verri, despite the markup prices Ancap, “during those periods of government, a deficit of 800 million dollars was generated, reaching the brink of bankruptcy, a situation that had to be resolved with a contribution to the oil company by parliament, charged to General Revenuesof 600 million dollars”.
“Today, with the new transparent pricing system, it is impossible for these loss-making actions to occur with ANCAP, and if for some reason that happens, then it will be known that what is intended is to make cash with the state company,” determined the undersecretary.
The green hydrogen business
He undersecretary He announced that “much sooner than one imagines” the green hydrogen could be sold at vehicle service stations since it is a process that advances very quickly and Uruguay is presented as one of the best candidate countries to exploit this type of energy due to its large energy matrix based on renewable energy.
“Our country has already attracted two international projects in the H2 business, and probably many more that are coming to the country,” he estimated. On the other hand, he added that, once the H2 market is implemented, “it will be absolutely free and deregulated, except obviously for the techniques and possible environmental impacts“.
Source: Ambito