New regime for regularizing obligations and credits with CAMMESA

Bomchil - On April 23, 2025, Provision No. 1/25 (the "Provision") of the Undersecretariat of Electric Energy was published in the Official Gazette, by which a new regime for the regularization of obligations of the Wholesale Electricity Market (MEM) was approved for debts held with the Wholesale Electricity Market Administration Company SA (CAMMESA) and/or with the MEM by electricity distributors, for energy consumption, power and interest.

Likewise, a new special credit regime was approved for distributors that, as of December 31, 2023, had no outstanding debt with CAMMESA and had settled all of their 2024 transactions.

Some of the highlights of the new measure are:

• Facilities for debts without an agreement on a payment plan and up to the maturity of transactions occurring until November 30, 2024 : payment plans of 72 monthly installments, a 12-month grace period, and an interest rate of 50% of the current MEM rate with a semi-annual review, starting in December 2025.

• Facilities for outstanding debts with payment plans under Law No. 27,701 : conversion of the outstanding balance to MWh at the October 2024 price, with no grace period and a French amortization system of equal, consecutive monthly installments at a rate of 50% of the current MEM rate with a semi-annual review, starting in December 2025.

• Special credit regime : recognition of a credit equivalent to two transactions in February 2025, with respect to transactions in the months following the signing of the agreement, in accordance with the agreed-upon works plan.

• Plan of works for the improvement of the electrical system : In all cases, distributors will be required to have an investment plan for works to increase the efficiency of system operation and service reliability, strategically improving the electrical infrastructure in various regions of the country.

The Provision, issued within the framework of the National Energy Sector emergency, is based on the failure of the current remuneration system to reflect the real costs of production, the existence of significant debts owed by numerous distribution agents to the MEM, and the tariff policies applied in recent decades, which caused a discrepancy between the income received by distributors and the monthly payment obligations settled by CAMMESA.

Likewise, this new measure seeks to prevent the default of certain distribution agents with the MEM from negatively impacting those distributors who have regularly fulfilled their commitments.