The Argentine government is taking a key step this Tuesday in negotiations with the provinces of the Norte Grande region to implement a new energy subsidy scheme for areas with high temperatures. The meeting, scheduled for 3:30 PM at the Ministry of Economy, will be led by Chief of Cabinet Diego Santilli and Energy Secretary María del Carmen Tettamanti.
Governors from Catamarca, Salta, Chaco, and Jujuy will attend, along with representatives from other NOA and NEA provinces. According to sources from the Chief of Cabinet's office, the main goal is to analyze alternatives to the hot zones project ahead of the months of highest electricity consumption due to high temperatures.
What are hot zones?
The hot zones project aims to create a geographically differentiated electricity tariff system based on average temperatures in each region. The initiative includes discounts of up to 50% on electricity bills for lower-income sectors in northern Argentine provinces, where the use of cooling equipment for much of the year drives up energy consumption.
According to a national official, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, and Corrientes would be considered super hot zones and would have their own scheme. However, he clarified that there will be no flat rate and that the details of the consumption-based subsidy system are still under discussion.
The political negotiation behind the agreement
This Tuesday's meeting comes amid a shift by the government toward a more dialog-oriented stance with the provinces, following legislative setbacks last week. The defeat in the Senate over the Property Inviolability Law and difficulties in gathering support to suspend the PASO (primary elections) led the executive to seek agreements with provincial governors.
The meeting was agreed during the 24th Norte Grande Assembly, held last Monday in Posadas, Misiones, with the presence of ten governors from the NOA and NEA. There, the governors presented a broad agenda that included access to infrastructure and natural gas, the situation of national highways, the reversal of the northern gas pipeline, the depth of the waterway, and preparation for the climatic effects of El Niño.
Corrientes Governor Juan Pablo Valdés emphasized the need to extend the gas network: "It would give us more equality", he said, noting that Corrientes, like Chaco and Misiones, does not have access to the fluid. "In the Norte Grande there is a lack of gas, electricity, and road infrastructure", he summarized.
The cold zones reform: the most sensitive point
Behind the energy debate lies a broader political negotiation. The national executive is seeking the support of governors to advance the reform of the cold zones regime, a system that currently subsidizes gas consumption in various regions of the country, including 94 municipalities in the province of Buenos Aires.
The government's proposal aims to maintain subsidies, but with a more limited scope, with the goal of reducing public spending on this program, which last year represented an outlay of nearly 250 billion pesos.
Impact on Buenos Aires province
According to estimates, around 1,240,000 households in 94 Buenos Aires municipalities could be excluded from the current regime. This figure represents about 20% of the province's total users.
If the proposed changes are approved, gas bills could see increases of between 40% and 100%, depending on each specific situation. Additionally, those who remain within the subsidy system could also experience changes to current discounts.
What the government expects from governors
From the Casa Rosada (presidential palace), they clarified that this co-authorship dynamic with the provinces will not necessarily extend to all issues, but they acknowledged that the unilateral way some norms are drafted generates delays and avoidable friction in Congress. "We are not going to say and do anything; the idea is that the regulation comes out well afterward", was the message the government transmitted to the northern governors.
The hot zones project is linked to the legislative debate over the modification of the Cold Zones regime, which has partial approval from the Chamber of Deputies and is pending in the Senate. The ruling party seeks to gather support to ensure the approval of both initiatives, in a negotiation that could redefine the map of energy subsidies across the country.
This Tuesday's meeting will be key to determining whether the northern governors support the cold zones reform in exchange for concrete progress on the hot zones project, in an election year where every political agreement counts.
Source: Infobae