Price increases: when the next electricity and gas increases are expected and by how much they have increased over the last year

With the beginning of March, the government has finished defining a large part of the new tariff increases for gas services at the national level and electricity in the AMBA which will be applied in the coming months. With these increases, it is estimated that it will be possible to achieve savings in public finances of 81,517 million dollars during the year in subsidies, which will come from family budgets.

After having defined the increases in the price of energy – where subsidies are applied – and in the cost of distribution (CPD), on March 1, the new tariff schedules were formalized for AMBA electricity users where Edenor operates and Edesur, which will be applied in two tranches: in April and June. With the first hike, bills will rise by an average of 60% compared to January, according to the Electricity Regulatory Entity (ENRE).

However, the publication of the tariffs with the increases in the added value of distribution (VAD), corresponding to June 2023, is still pending. The invoices that users receive include several elements: the price of energy, transport, distribution and taxes.

According to a report by the consultancy Economía & Energía, with the increases scheduled for next April, tariffs for Tier 1 (high income) residential users will increase by an average of 136% compared to the average value that has been paid throughout. 2022. For level 2 users (low income), the difference calculated in the same way will be 44%. And for level 3 (middle income) users, it will be 86%.

For example, a high-income user in the R3 category -low monthly consumption, 326 to 400 kWh- who paid an average bill of $2,679 last year, will increase to $6,431 in April of this year (140 % moreover). Meanwhile, a high-income customer, but in the R6 category – an average monthly consumption of 501 to 600 kWh – who paid $4,671 last year, will pay $11,038 (136% more).

In the case of a Tier 3 R3 customer who paid an average bill of $2,171 last year, in April of this year it is estimated to increase to $3,570 (64% more ). Meanwhile, a user of this range of monetary resources, but in the R6 category – with the highest monthly consumption – who last year paid an average bill of $4,102, in April this year he will pass to $7,857 (136% more).

Finally, a Tier 2 (low income) household that, on average throughout 2022, paid an average bill of $1,953 next April is expected to increase to $2,817, 44% more than the previous year. .

The consulting firm in question also estimated that the increase in VAD for the month of June could mean an additional 20% for Tier 1 users (higher income); 37% for level 2 (low income) and 29% for level 3 (middle income).

In this case, new tariffs will be applied from March and there will be a pending increase -on the distribution service- which will be defined for May. This is the price before entering the transport system (PIST).

This increase, which will be passed on from this month, varies according to the tariff segmentation by economic capacity of users: 21% on average for level 1 (high income) and 19% for level 3 (medium income, while exceeding or not the corresponding consumption ceiling). Those in level 2 (low income) will not have a raise.

Of the total bill, the price of gas represents 57% and distribution about 12%.

According to distribution companies, distribution pay has risen well below all indicators of the economy: 80% from December 2019 to December 2022, a third of the rate of inflation and a little more than the average change in wages over this period.

“In March, the price of gasoline is experiencing a further increase, which will have an impact of 19.8% on bills. Although this increase is the only one of the year in this segment, distribution services are expected to experience further increases which, although not yet confirmed, could cause ticket prices to rise by 50%. This measure achieves levels 1 and 3 of segmentation, excluding low-income users,” they said. GlobeLiveMedia from the consulting firm EcoGo. The impact of this rise in monthly inflation for March was estimated at 0.65 percentage point.

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