Users welcome the initiative, but maintain that the reduction in rates would not be significant.
The Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission (Creg) proposed, through Resolution Project No. 701 055 of 2024, a change in the indexes used to calculate the energy rate.
These indexes seek to update the costs of providing the service and maintain more precise and stable rates for users.
In this sense, after a series of analyses carried out by the Creg team, it was proposed to modify two indexers in the Resolution project that is currently in the public consultation phase.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) is currently applied for some components of the rate (generation, distribution and transmission of energy). However, it has been identified that it could be more appropriate to use the series of capital goods that are part of the manufacturing industry to update capital-intensive activities and thus replace the PPI currently used and, on the other hand, to replace the CPI it is proposed to eliminate the food and regulated components so that said index is not subject to the variations of these elements.
“The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which allows us to see the change in prices of products and services that families usually buy such as food, is currently used to update the cost of marketing. Considering that sometimes this index rises due to factors that have nothing to do with energy, it is proposed to remove the influence of food and regulated items from this indicator and avoid the influence of these factors on the cost of marketing. This adjustment in the calculation formula for electricity rates is a very important step to ensure that the price of the rate to the end user is more efficient and that the regulation issued by the Creg is kept up to date with best practices. By basing the indexation of the rate components on the Capital Goods Price Index and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) without food, we could limit external variations in prices,” said Antonio Jiménez Rivera, director of the Creg.
“This regulatory proposal adds to the measures that the Creg has implemented so that the country has more efficient energy rates for citizens and that the results are reflected in the short term,” said the official.
Likewise, the Creg reminded citizens that the electric energy rate is defined based on a unit cost (CU) that is composed of the sum of the costs of generation, transmission, distribution and marketing of energy, together with a cost of recognized losses.
The sum of costs that determines the Unit Cost serves as a basis for calculating the rates that are subsequently multiplied by the number of kWh (kilowatts – hour) consumed during the billing period and thus it is known how much a user must pay for the electric energy service.
From the National Users League, the initiative was well received. “This is a proposal that had been identified since September 2022, because the indexers used today have nothing to do with the inflation of goods and products specific to the public utility sector. However, what was promised by the Government and the regulator was to build their own indexers, strictly related to the prices that affect the productive chain of the public utility sector,” noted representatives of the League.
However, it was noted that the Creg resolution project still does not reach that precision, since it would take into account the formation of IPP indexers for capital goods in the manufacturing industry. It is a step forward not to determine prices with IPP, but it must be sought within the sector and its transmission, distribution and marketing chain. Faced with the legitimate expectation of users of a significant reduction in rates, this proposal is far from achieving it or having a significant impact.
The Colombiano
