Although the El Niño phenomenon has already been overcome, prices for consumers have skyrocketed in recent months; in fact, trading on the stock market exceeded $1,000 per kilowatt hour.
A few days ago, the National Government ended the El Niño phenomenon, leaving behind the risks that arose due to the lack of water, including possible energy rationing. However, the low level of the reservoirs had an impact on the energy rates paid by consumers.
At the end of the first quarter, the companies with the most expensive unit cost are Air-E ($1,211.3), Afinia ($1,096), EEP Cartago ($1,013), Cedenar ($1,008) and Emevasi ($995) . Unit cost references are key, especially for consumers, since this defines the cost of the energy bill.
As explained by Enel, the unit cost is «the efficient economic cost of providing the service to the regulated end user, expressed in pesos per kilowatt hour ($/kWh) and in pesos per invoice.» This comes from the sum of the efficient costs of each of the activities in the electrical chain, such as generation or transmission.
The figures presented are as of March, the most recent, and in fact this is the same period reported by the operator of the national energy system XM. “During the month of March, the average stock market price was $622.33 kWh, increasing 8.56% compared to the average price of the previous month, which was $573.22 kWh ,” said Cecilia Maya, energy market manager. XM wholesaler.
In contrast, the companies with the lowest rates are Emcali ($774.2), EPM ($802.3), EEP ($833.5), Enel ($838.5) and Emsa ($851.6).
The price of energy on the stock market
There is a key point in the chain and it is the negotiation of the price on the stock market. According to Electrical Energy Consultants Colombia (Enersinc), in the first half of April the negotiation reached a maximum average of $1,103.56 kWh and minimum of $1,047.01 kilowatt hour.
“ Increases of 15 or 20 days in stock prices would only end up affecting 1% and 3% of what you pay. If $100,000 was paid in March, then in April they will pay more or less $103,000,” explained Alejandro Castañeda, executive director of Andeg.
Although in the short term there is not much impact on consumers, these negotiations do affect future rates, which are directly paid by energy marketers and end up passing these variations on to the user.
“The price that is formed is directly related to the type of generation source, to the availability of hydraulic resources, wind and sun, to the cost and availability of fuels, among other aspects ,” reports XM.
In March, 60.35% of the energy was generated with renewable sources, mainly hydraulic, and 39.65% of the remaining energy with thermal plants. In the coming days, the balance for April will be announced, when a more critical level was reached in the reservoirs, and production decreased.
By: MATEO MEDINA ARIZA
https://www.larepublica.co/empresas/air-e-afinia-eep-cartago-y-cedenar-entre-empresas-con-tarifas-de-energia-mas-caras-3861997
