Since 2019, the main electricity distributors in the country have been accumulating a debt of the service that they acquire in the wholesale electricity market (MEM), in the payment of the liquidations to the administrative company of the wholesale market Elérgrico Elbueima Sociedad Anónima (Cammesa) that until last year amounted to about US $ 1,200 million.
It happens that following the tariff policies carried out during the last two decades, what was collected by companies such as Edenor and Edesur, to quote the largest, did not reach them to cancel that purchase, since the rates did not reflect the cost of services.
Moreover, the previous governments were issuing freezing rules of the rates or suspension of the corresponding adjustments, which contributed significantly to the deterioration of the payment chain in said wholesale market.
Without success
With the passage of time, the debt increased and began to be supplied by loans from the National Treasury to the “seasonal background”.
In 2021, regularization plans began to be negotiated through agreements with the distributors to provide them with facilities with the aim of reducing the accumulated debt and also, in November 2024, the emergence of the national energy sector declared by Decree No. 55/23, until July 9, 2025, was extended.
Article 2 of that measure instructed the Ministry of Energy to prepare, put into force and implement an Actions program for the generation, transport and distribution segment.
The objective was to establish the mechanisms for the penalty of prices in conditions of competence and free access, and maintain in real terms the income levels and cover the investment needs.
To this, measures were added to restore the payment chain and preserve the supply of the public electricity service through a payment plan for the debtor agents of the MEM for the amounts corresponding to the invoices for the sale of electricity, expiring in the months of February, March and April 2024.
However, this process did not have the expected success, so the Government of Javier Milei now aims to take a set of measures that allow the normalization of the sector but with mechanisms that allow reflecting the real production costs to end the current critical scenario that crosses the market.
New advanced
The authorities also intend to prevent distributors who fulfilled their commitments to be affected by the default of other companies, thus ensuring equitable treatment and the continuity of the electricity supply without depending on state financial assistance.
In this context, it has just been published in the Official Gazette of the Nation, the 1/2025 provision of the Undersecretariat of Energy that establishes a special regular regime of MEM’s obligations, which will be of exceptional application, as part of the implementation of underlying policies.
The libertarian government understands that it will be “a tool to achieve autonomous, competitive and sustainable functioning of the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI), which allows free hiring between supply and demand.”
The program will seek to determine the debts, since the use of energy units, such as the MWH, is likely to generate distortions in the value of the pending obligations because the price of energy is subject to variations originated in regulatory decisions with respect to the volume of subsidies applied in each period.
Adequate alternative
Faced with a subsidy remove process such as the current implementation, the amount of pending obligations would substantially separated from the value of the energy that was transferred to the users at the time these debts were contracted and exceed what would have been a financial update to current MEM rates.
“The regime is the only adequate alternative so that electrical energy distributors can protect their current flow and guarantee a reliable and efficient supply, and allow them, eventually, invest in modern infrastructure and perform cost analysis to optimize the operation,” is sustained in the recitals of the measure.
Distributors are also asked to have interest in adhering to the new regime to communicate with Cammesa and fill out a sworn declaration form that is part of the provision within a maximum period of 15 business days counted from the publication of the norm.
“The measures are aimed at channeling the normalization in the collection of current billing, making distributors not delay in payment, avoiding consequences derived from delinquency in the MEM, which affect the economic capacity of the system,” adds the measure.
But companies will also be required to present an investment plan in works for the improvement of the system in order to increase its efficiency and reliability, improve infrastructure, recover the capacity for transmission of electricity, congested or with insufficient capacity, improve the quality of service, avoiding energy losses and/or performing the works pending execution.
What happens to the one who does not adhere
Likewise, Cammesa will be empowered to initiate the relevant legal actions to pursue collections against distributors who have breached the payments.
In the event that a distributor does not adhere to the regime and maintain a debt with Cammesa and/or the MEM, the corresponding executive processes will be initiated in order to normalize their situation.
The plan also marks conditions such as 12 months of grace and 72 installments with a 50% rate of the MEM, as stated in Annex I of the provision.
A month before the end of the defined grace period, a new balance (composed of capital plus interest) will be consolidated, which will be part of the payment scheme in 72 installments.
As for the outstanding debts with the MEM agreed in previously signed payment plans, the agreements will be maintained in the terms subscribed in a timely manner.
The rule prohibits the adherents of distributors who have legal actions against the collection of cammesa or actions that have affected the normal functioning of the MEM, unless they desist from judicial actions.
