The distributor of Energía Edersa requested an extraordinary review of the electricity rate in Río Negro due to the inflationary effect in the last. From the company, which provides the service throughout the province except Bariloche and Río Colorado, requested an increase in the BAD (Distribution Value Added) of 12.4%. FIt forms part of a tool that the company and EPRE have to discuss aspects of the contract. For its part, the government requested a change in the investments planned by Edersa for this five-year period.
Jorge Agnelli, Deputy General Manager of Edersa, projected that the impact on the consumer bill will be around 750 pesos. In the public hearing that took place in Cipolletti the day before, Agnelli explained – with numbers – the impact of inflation on the entire commercial chain that the company has to provide the service.
It was one of the arguments to require the adjustment that EPRE must define. In most of the items it exceeds 100% and in some 200% as in the case of transformers. According to the graph you showed, in the last twelve months, the cost has increased by 247%. 177% in poles and 140% in cables.
EPRE explained the scope of Edersa’s request
The president of EPRE, Isabel Tipping, indicated that it will be analyzed from May 2022 to March 2023. “Labor costs are excluded from the claim, They already have a specific legal adjustment mechanism,” he warned.
He also said that the review process also includes contemplation in the rate to face the advancement of a series of works defined as priorities by the Secretary of State for Energy of Río Negro. “This implies a modification of the Special Investment Plan in force in order to replace the works planned in the third year identified as the El Cuy – Cerro Policía Interconnection for another work whose purpose is to supply the productive area of the Río Negro valley between General Conesa and Guardia Miter, as well as to improve the reliability of the electricity supply to that last location,” he explained.
Tipping clarified that the valuation of the investments will be required to be resolved in a public computation, so the final cost will arise from this process, which will be in charge of Edersa. In the same way, he anticipated that complying with this step will not be enough but that “before its award, a hearing must be held to demonstrate the reasonableness of the proposed value.”
The request for change in Edersa’s investments
The Secretary of Electric Power, Néstor Pérez, was the one who explained the details of the advancement of the investments. “It is one of the three works that we consider of a strategic nature in the Special Investment Plan and, as such, they have an approval and monitoring system. One was the 33 kV Line that connects the downtown area of Cipolletti with Balsa Las Perlas, which is being executed and is expected to open before the end of the year. The second was a line to supply El Cuy and Cerro Policía; and the third is a new 13.2 kV line that will link Los Menucos with Sierra Colorada”, he described.
“We request the change of the second of the works for this 33 kV line, for two reasons. The first has to do with the high degree of progress that a management has to obtain external financing for the link between El Cuy and Cerro Policía, based on the environmental benefits that it implies”, acknowledged Pérez. In addition, he listed a series of claims that have been received due to the impossibility of putting into production the valley near the river located between General Conesa and Guardia Miter. “As we consider that they are works of similar and interchangeable dimensions, which should not have a tariff effect”, he evaluated.
The public hearing included several speakers who unanimously They rejected the increase requested by the distributor. From the Chamber of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce of General Roca and the consortium of Irrigators of Allen and Fernández Oro they opposed the impact of the adjustment being “financed” by the user.
Other speakers who expressed themselves in similar terms were Walter Fiore, from the Villa Regina Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Production; Miguel Sabbadini, from the Argentine Chamber of Integrated Fruit Growers; Antonio D’Angelo, Union of Light and Power of Río Negro and Neuquén: Sebastián Hernández, of the Federation of Fruit Producers of Río Negro and Neuquén; Marcela García, from the Alto Valle Civil Association of Producers; and Silvano Pacher, from Química del Valle SRL.
