The reasons of those who did not lower energy service rates

Last week, the Ministry of Mines and Energy reported that 82 companies in the electricity sector announced that they voluntarily adhered to the Pact for Tariff Justice. This is one of the measures promoted by the Energy portfolio in order to have a positive impact on the price of electricity, which to September it has risen 27% compared to the previous yearaccording to information from the Dane.

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According to the Minenergía report, 952 contracts between generators and marketers were renegotiated. The three largest companies in terms of generation, for example, joined: Enel, EPM and Isagen. As well as marketers that have regions with some of the most important increases: Air-e, Afinia, Celsia, CEO, among others.

However, there are some that did not. The report delivered by the Ministry shows that thermal generators3 joined (Termoyopal, Gecelca and Gensa), of the 14 in the country, unionized in Andeg.

In this regard, Alejandro Castañeda, president of the union, explained that these 3 companies were able to offer discounts between 5% and 8% on the prices of the energy they sold, in addition to making the changes in the indexer for future sales. He clarified that another 3, due to input cost issues, could not offer this option. However, he stressed that they did generate future changes for the indexer and use the one with the least value.

Among the reasons that explain why they have not been able to offer discounts, Castañeda pointed out that coal-fired power plants are seeing significant increases, given that now la ton of coal is purchased above $700,000 when a year ago that amount was bought over $160,000. In the case of those that work with gas, the leader explained that this is an energy that is traded at international prices and in dollars, so the high TRM is affecting their operating costs.

The remaining eight companies do not sell energy by contract, but through the stock market, he assured. For this reason they were not added, since the energy is not indexed.

Among the companies that joined is Termoyopal, which according to its manager, Luis Alberto Páez, “has an inescapable social commitment to the needs of electricity users at the national level and more especially with those of the Caribbean coast”.

Within the generators that use sources such as water or non-conventional, there are LaReif, Genersa, RefoEnergy, Enerfin, EDF, EDP Renewables, among others, according to a survey carried out by Portafolio.

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In this regard, Natalia Gutiérrez, president of Acolgen, stated that “generators were the first to present real measures and we accommodated ourselves to a schedule proposed by the minister.”

He pointed out that the union’s general balance is that almost all of the generators had joined the pact, both with respect to the energy sale price and the indexers that will be applied in the future. In this way there are 8 generating companies affiliated in Acolgen that joined the pact voluntarily.

However, Gutiérrez stressed that a concern remains “we do not want the benefits that are being offered from the generation to be trapped in the chain and not reach the end user”. For this reason, the leader called for the Ministry, as well as the Superintendence of Public Services, to monitor how the decreases are taking place.

Andesco estimates that the reductions in energy bills for users will be between 4% and 8% between November and December.

Although throughout the national territory the price of electricity is risingon the Caribbean coast is where it has done it with more force.

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Among the reasons is that the components of restrictions and losses (theft) are added to the increases in the cost of generation. That is why the generating companies have made special efforts to reduce prices in that area. Isagen, for example, announced targeted measures for Air-e and Afinia, such as freezing contract rates and trade discounts for the remainder of the year.

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