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The increase in public utility bills this month, especially energy bills, surprised users in several cities, confident in the government-announced rate freeze – those for the aqueduct in March, and those for energy starting in mid of April-.
TIME could confirm energy charges up to double or with considerable increases in Cauca, Tolima, Meta, Atlántico and Magdalena, Santander and Norte de Santander. The complaints, however, do not translate into an increase in claims before the Superintendency of Public Services, which totaled 17,826 in February and dropped to 16,448 in March.
One of the reasons, according to superintendent Natasha Avendaño, is that some users are not yet familiar with virtual options for filing complaints.
This is the case of Mercedes Mosquera, a resident of the La Cristalina village, in Puerto Gaitán, Meta, and whose receipt rose from 22,000 in March to 110,000 pesos in April. She has not filed a complaint because her path is 75 kilometers from the urban area, where the headquarters of the Meta Electric Company (Emsa) is located.
(You may be interested: Do utility bills get expensive? This can do)
One of the points of concern to the Superintendency is charging to commercial premises, which are receiving even higher bills despite not operating.
This is what happened to Luz Marina Juaregi, owner of a restaurant in Santa Marta, who pointed out that in April she received an account for 900,000 pesos, when the regular value used to be 400,000. Electricaribe explained that, by not being able to verify consumption in the meters, some invoices are being charged with the average of previous months.
But his case is not unique. In El Espinal, Tolima, the public services vendor, Luis Alfonso Ramírez, points out that, “due to the crisis, the Celsia company does not read consumption and has devoted itself to averaging, but that affects users.”
In an interview with EL TIEMPO, Superintendent Avendaño explained these and other reasons for the increase in charges.
What are the increases in utility bills due to?
Most of the complaints that we have received in the Superintendency are for electric power services. It is important to clarify that all the public services we pay today correspond to the consumption of more or less a month and a half ago. There are several factors that implied this increase: the first is that for the bills of late March and early April, the value of the kilowatt had the impact of what happened in late February, moments in which due to the situation of the hydroelectric reservoirs the stock price of the kilowatt reached over 600 pesos.
The second factor, which applies in departments such as Tolima, Norte de Santander, Quindío and Santander, is that some companies began to apply the new tariff charges approved in 2018 by the Creg. That was coupled with the generation value and increased, plus the rate.
We are going to start receiving invoices that reflect this increase in consumption in compulsory isolation. The receipts are going to increase, there is no way that they will not increase.
But weren’t the rates frozen by the government?
Although one of the government’s first announcements when declaring a state of emergency on March 17 was that increases in aqueduct rates were frozen, that measure did not apply to energy and gas. The freeze on energy and gas rates was only materialized with the Creg resolutions of April 14.
So can you expect a reduction in May receipts?
Now the prices are frozen and there was the possibility of deferring the payment for up to 36 months for strata from 1 to 4. The rate is still, but consumption is not. What is going to happen? Than we will begin to receive invoices that reflect this increase in consumption in the mandatory isolation. The receipts are going to increase, there is no way that they will not increase.
In the regions, there are those who report abuse by public service companies. Do they have open investigations?
Complaints have reached us from all sides. Of Personería, of congressmen, of the municipalities. In the tariff controls that we carry out we have not found any deviation. More than research, we have made requests to energy companies. This is because some are billing not for the value consumed, but for the average of previous consumption, among other reasons, to avoid taking employees out to look at the meters. This for commercial users is very hard, because they have not had consumption and much less income to pay.
We require companies to specify if they are charging on average, so that they only do so if there is no other possibility. And, in case they do, they reverse it. Based on this information, we will proceed to assess whether there are merits to open an investigation against these providers.
JUAN MANUEL FLÓREZ ARIAS
TIME@juanduermevela
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