Electricity consumption in Argentina falls by a record 9.4% in March after Macri triples rates.

[forest444]

The hike in utility rates decreed by the right-wing administration of Argentine President Mauricio Macri in February has led to a record 9.4% plunge in demand in March compared to the same month last year, according to the Fundelec foundation.

The drop in consumption, Fundelec noted, was registered despite the fact that temperatures in March did not vary significantly when compared to their historic March average. The report noted that the plunge in consumption contrasted sharply with record consumption levels a year ago, which had been growing at nearly 4% a year and exceeded 140 gwh for all of 2015.

The new trend was also more marked in the Buenos Aires metro area, which includes both the city of Buenos Aires and its suburbs. Electricity consumption in that region (home to one in three Argentines) was down by almost 12%, with a 12.1% drop for Edenor users and a 11.6% for Edesur clients. Consumptionn in the rest of the country fell by 8.3%.

The sudden fall in electricity use came after Energy Minister Juan José Aranguren announced a reduction in subsidies to electricity consumption, leading to a hike in rates averaging 200 to 300%. In one particularly controversial case the University of La Matanza, in suburban Buenos Aires, saw its electricity bill jump from 100,000 pesos ($11,000) in March 2015 to 700,000 pesos ($48,000) this March - a 600% hike.

Aranguren defended the decision as a bid to reduce the country's budget deficit of $25 billion in 2015, with the further goal of raising money to improve the country’s strained electrical infrastructure. He added that the new rates would mean that users "would now be more likely to ration the use of energy and put their consumption in line with the real cost of producing it."

At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/212984/electricity-consumption-plunges

And: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.politicargentina.com/notas/201604/13353-la-universidad-de-la-matanza-pago-700-mil-pesos-de-luz-y-denuncian-que-peligra-su-funcionamiento.html&prev=search
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Meanwhile, the wealthy received a $10 billion tax cut. So much for the virtues of being a deficit hawk.

[Judi Lynn]

1. They aren't very good at covering their tracks: raising electricity 100 to 300%,

while they cut the taxes of the 1%'ers by $10B.

Monsters.

[forest444]

2. Cut-and-paste GOP.

But without the wars.