The government will implement Changes to electricity, gas and bottle subsidies from 1 January 2026 across the country. The Economy Ministry’s idea is to provide aid “only to those who need it, when they need it,” so it will focus public spending and continue next year’s fiscal adjustment. This will be reflected to users as new Increase in tickets.
The impact will mainly be on the 7,500,000 families who will lose benefits, i.e. 45% of the Argentine population. The other 9,100,000 million households that will continue to receive aid from the national state will be subject to adjustments in their subsidized consumption blocks, which will be adjusted according to the season of the year.
The changes will be put out to public consultation online in the coming days and will be implemented at the start of the new year. with them, The government aims to reduce energy subsidies From the equivalent of 0.65% of GDP that will close in 2025 to 0.5% in 2026, Saving nearly $1 billion.
The First Amendment is that The rate hash will be unpacked Which has been in effect since the end of 2022 and will move to a new targeted energy subsidy (SEF) system. The current 3-tier categories of users based on income and assets will be abolished, and there will be two types of households: without benefits and supported households.
It is estimated that 40% of households currently belong to the “N1 – High Income” category, which receives electricity and natural gas subsidies through the grid but much less than “N3 – Middle Income” and “N2 – Low Income” users; The latter two represent 60% of the universe.
And with this first change Households will pay N1 the full cost To generate electricity and produce gas, while About 140,000 families (1% of total) Which today is classified as N3 They will also lose support.
Until now, residential users have been paying as follows:
This division will now be replaced by a division between the categories of families with and without benefits.
How will electricity subsidies be applied?
The second innovation that the government will introduce is regarding the quantities that will be subsidized: it goes from a maximum of 250 kilowatt-hours per month for N3 and from 350 kilowatt-hours for N2 to the following scheme:
Subsidized users will pay for these consumable blocks at 50% of their real cost, as a rule; In addition, a 25% bonus will be added from January 2026, which will gradually decrease throughout next year at the government’s discretion until it is abolished.
That is, the subsidized consumption blocks will receive a bonus of 75% in January and about 50% in December 2026.
Currently, the average cost of an electric system is $75 per megawatt hour, which is the price that households without subsidies will pay in full.
The third relevant change is that Wholesale gas prices will fall by $3.80 per mmBtu over the course of the year. Now in the summer the cost converted to rates is $2.90 and in the winter it is $4.50.
Therefore, this will mean a significant increase in the price that households pay in the coming months, offset by it being the period of year when gas consumption is lower.
For users with subsidies, the state will cover 50% of the cost between April and September
anyway, Families will not have to re-register to receive supportas the government will take available databases. Users can update their data if they wish.
Overall, 66% of households will pay less than $44,000 for electricity in the summer, while 81% will pay less than $67,000.
For gas, in the winter, 56% will pay less than $14,000; And 75% is less than 56 thousand, according to official accounts.