During the last 12 months, the cost of the natural gas public service has had an increase of 20.7% according to data from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane).
(Canacol announced a new gas discovery in the Lulo 1 well).
According to the most recent inflation report from the statistical entity, gas is the service with the highest annual increase between April this year compared to the same month last year, surpassing electricity (19.5%).
When analyzing the data from the Superintendency of Public Services, it is evident that each month this energy has had an increase. One of the highest is the one registered in Bogotá, where Vanti operates, whose variation from February 2022 to 2023 already accumulates 45.9%.
The company explained that the increases are partly due to the rise in the dollar, since production and transportation contracts are paid in this currency. It should be remembered that the currency has been bullish in recent months.
(Up to five times the gas bill would go up if it were imported).
In February of this year, the average of the Representative Market Rate was $4,803.11, which meant a 22% increase compared to the TRM of the same period last year, which was $3,935.84.
On the other hand, Vanti points out that another factor impacting this public service upwards is the PPI indexation, which applies to the distribution component. This has been on a growing path, which has also impacted electricity prices.
These double-digit increases in network-delivered natural gas are also seen in all major cities. For example, Cúcuta shows a variation of 25.5%; Riohacha of 24.5%; Cartagena and Montería 22.8%, and Cali 22.5%.
An atypical case is that of Bucaramanga, which between February 2022 and this year shows a negative variation of 1.6%. This, since the cubic meter in the second month of last year was $2,125, which represents $33.3 above what was billed per unit this year.
However, Luz Stella Murgas, president of Naturgas, stressed that although the price has behaved upwards, the truth is that in April a slowdown began to be noticed.
(Technical review of gas: is it mandatory to pay for it?).
“The latest CPI report from Dane shows that gas inflation, which includes natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in cylinders, fell. The variation from March to April was negative (it fell 1.59%) and the annual variation to April was 20.77%”he claimed.
In the fourth month of the year, inflation eased for the first time in 23 months. This behavior was explained by the price of food, but also public services.
In fact, Murgas points out that “Natural gas and LPG in cylinders contributed to the reduction of the total national annual inflation, registered in April of 12.82%, which is a sign that the CPI is beginning to yield.”
However, Vanti explained that the price of a cubic meter of natural gas is completely regulated by the tariff formula established by the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission (Creg).
“The rates do not depend on the distributors, since everything is regulated and what is done is to apply the Creg formula to set the monthly rate”they explained.
This applies to the entire national territory, as occurs with the price of electricity.
In fact, when establishing the prices of this public service, the components of supply, transport, distribution and recognized losses are taken into account. Additionally, depending on the socioeconomic status of the households, a subsidy or a contribution is applied.
For example, in the case of stratum 1 households, the Nation contributes up to 60% of subsistence consumption; for stratum 2, this is reduced to 50% of this consumption.
For their part, strata 3 and 4 pay the full rate. That is to say without subsidy and without contribution. However, strata 5 and 6 do have a contribution of 20% above the full value.
They ask for more LPG subsidies
In Colombia, about 20.9% of households use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as energy for cooking. According to Gasnova, a union of LPG distributors, a subsidy should be applied throughout the country for strata 1, 2 and 3, since it is the only public service without a subsidy strategy. If applied to departments with very high viability, it would have an annual fiscal cost of $70,132 million.
If it is also applied to those with high viability, it would add $153,643 million each year. Alejandro Martínez, president of the union, said that this would contribute to achieving the decarbonization goals, by replacing firewood
and polluting fuels.
DANIELA MORALES SOLER
