Executive proposes lowering electricity rates for those with lower consumption

During his meeting with the fishermen affected by Repsol, in Ventanilla, President Pedro Castillo insisted that Congress untangle the project, presented a month ago, to modify the FOSE (Social Electricity Compensation Fund) subsidy system, a surcharge on Electricity bills that, as of 2001, are applied to regulated users with consumption greater than 100 kWh, in favor of residential users with consumption less than 100 kWh.

According to the Minem, there are today some 8 million 251,934 regulated users, between homes, stores and other small consumption points, compared to the 2,552 free of gigantic consumption, who occupy around 60% of the national energy. The Government’s proposal is that the latter pay 3.2% more in the rate, in order to “take better advantage of the electricity surplus that Peru currently has.”

The Executive proposes that, from now on, the beneficiary fence be increased from 100 to 140 kWh, with an increase of 20% of the current discount nominal value. This includes removing the subsidy from beach houses, for example, in addition to improving targeting without affecting mypes. The Vice Minister of Electricity, Martín Dávila Pérez, maintains that, as a result of a “distortion in the electricity market”, regulated customers pay an average price of US$77 per kWh, while free customers pay about US$40 per generation, some $37 difference. The discount applied will be 5% for urban users, 10% for urban-rural users, and 15% for rural users.

“If today the regulated customer pays an additional 4.7% to subsidize those who consume less, the idea is that free customers pay approximately 3.2% more, with which we would subsidize between 5% and 15% of electricity rates. of the users”, he said before the Energy and Mines Commission of the Parliament.

electric subsidy

Energy expert Rafael Laca maintains that this measure will not necessarily represent significant savings for the end user, and on the contrary, it will contribute to perpetuate the current electrical scheme that, in effect, needs to be corrected.

“As with Camisea gas, where there are also legal stability contracts, the government must sit down with all industrial users and electricity companies to negotiate the changes that are really needed, not seek to correct the distortion with more subsidies,” he said. .

The data

Energy. Electricity production in 2021 was approximately 57,371 GWh, exceeding pre-pandemic levels, Minem reported.

Receipt. The FOSE collects approximately S/ 30 million (monthly) and represents a 4.3% rate surcharge upon receipt from contributors.