translated from Spanish: The Government freezes electricity, gas and fuel tariffs until the end of the year

The Secretary of Energy of the Nation, Dario Martinez, confirmed that the government does not plan new increases in electricity, gas and fuel tariffs until the end of the year.” The president and vice president decided that this year, where there are already many difficulties, there will not be an impact in terms of tariffs,” he said. According to the official, prices are pressured by the rise in the price of oil and other factors that come into play. Despite this, he clarified that the government does not plan to increase tariffs in the second half of 2021 for naphtha. The same decision runs for electricity and gas tariffs for the rest of the year. Martinez explained that the Brent barrel is now trading at US$ 74.1. That, coupled with the tax burden and the current biofuel situation, comes together to increase tariffs. However, he assured that there should be no increase in the second half of the year. “The current price should be like this until the end of the year,” he told the newspaper Río Negro. This creates tension between the state and the producers, but we believe that prices should not change in the second half of the year, there should be no increases. It is true that Brent rises and prices are defined by the producers but we believe that there should be no movements in the second half of the year,” he reiterated. The government is making progress on a project to segment tariffs for gas and electricity users, although, he clarified, we still have to wait. “We think it’s important to sustain those kinds of subsidized rates that are not antagonistic to a segmentation process. There is a decision of the president and the vice president and you have to do a very large and complex database work,” he said. We want those who cannot afford the cost to have subsidized and covered energy, but that means that those who can pay, based on their income, can be segmented in such a way as to liberate that sector. Making smarter use of subsidies is a great challenge that our Government has taken on,” he said. In the middle of a pandemic it’s complex, but we’re working on generating that database and the whole state has to collaborate because it was never done. Understanding what all the income a family has is hard work and we want to achieve it as soon as we can,” he concluded.

Original source in Spanish