Although the details have not yet been officially published by the National Secretariat of Energy through the respective resolution, everything indicates that the increase in the average bill for natural gas would be of the order of 50%, starting in March.
This percentage will impact users who declared substantial goods or high income (more than 3.5 total baskets per month) and those who never filled out the registration form to find out in which segmentation category they fit.
In the case of Ecogas customers, which distributes gas in Córdoba, Catamarca and La Rioja, these “Level 1” users represent around 40% of the total.
The remainder is split between low-income users (“Tier 3″) and medium-income users (“Tier 2″), representing 25% and 35%, respectively.
Both sectors will continue to receive the subsidized wholesale gas, so the final increases in bills will be substantially lower.
The 50% increase with which gas bills would arrive since March is made up of a 28.3% rise in the price of gas – data that was released by the head of the National Energy Secretariat, Flavia Royón– and an increase that would not exceed 90% in the transportation and distribution components. This information was published by Econojournal, a specialist medium on energy issues.
3.5 million low-income households, which have applied for and obtained the energy subsidy, will not have increases in the cost of gas during 2023.
— Flavia Royon (@FlaviaRoyon) January 6, 2023
Wholesale gas or Pist (“entry point to the transportation system”) represents approximately half of the total of an average residential bill, so the percentage of 28.3% would impact no more than 15% of final bills.
Bearing in mind that 35% of the total bill corresponds to the transportation and distribution components, the increase with a ceiling of 90% that the Ministry of Energy would authorize would translate into 20%.
The rest, basically taxes and fees, explain the remaining 15%.
It must be remembered that the Registry of Access to Energy Subsidies (Rase) is still open and anyone who has not registered can do so to notify the condition of income and assets that will give them the possibility, if qualified, to continue receiving wholesale gas with subsidy.
The 90% recomposition that would enable the Nation is far from the 200% that Ecogas requested for its component in the public hearing organized by Enargas last week.
On the occasion, Ecogas said that taking the evolution of wholesale prices as a reference, the rate accumulates a delay of 69.3%. “If the April 2019 scenario is compared, since then there have only been temporary increases; so it can be seen that the rate has decreased significantly in real terms, losing two thirds of its value”, said the borrower at the hearing.
Likewise, he warned that “prices have continued to rise and will continue to do so in 2023 in accordance with the expectations published by the Central, therefore, in the absence of an immediate adjustment, the distributor’s resources to meet its obligations will continue to decrease” .
