The Secretary of Energy established an exceptional, transitory, and unique payment scheme for the outstanding balances of economic transactions within the Wholesale Electricity Market
Through Resolution No. 58/2024 – and its complementary No. 66/2024 – published in the Official Gazette on May 8, 2024, the Secretary of Energy of the Nation established an exceptional, transitory, and unique payment scheme for the outstanding balances of economic transactions within the Wholesale ElectricityMarket (“MEM” per its acronym in Spanish) corresponding to the months of December 2023, January, and February 2024, pertaining to the Creditors of the MEM.
As stipulated in its Article 1, the Resolution aims to “restore the payment chain of current economic transactions and thereby preserve the supply of the public electricity service, given the deficit of resources available in the MEM Stabilization Fund and the emergency declared by Decree No. 55/2023 and 70/2023.“
The Secretary of Energy instructs the Wholesale Electricity Market Administrator Company (CAMMESA per its acronym in Spanish) to prepare and determine the amounts owed to the MEM Creditors within five (5) business days from the entry into force of Resolution No. 58/2024.
In the event of discrepancies regarding the amounts owed to the MEM Creditors, the differences may be subject to dispute resolution procedures provided for in the regulatory and/or contractual rules applicable to the aforementioned transactions.
Furthermore, it establishes that once the amounts of the claims are determined, the settlement of the payments will be made as follows:
a. The Settlements of the MEM Creditors for the Economic Transactions of December 2023 and January 2024 will be settled within FIVE (5) business days from the date of the individual agreements through the delivery of “Argentine Republic Bonds in United States Dollars STEP UP 2038” (BONO USD 2038 L.A.), in accordance with the instructions and methodology that the SECRETARY OF ENERGY will determine in complement to this resolution, and the corresponding commercial documents shall be issued in due course.
The calculation of the nominal amounts to be delivered for each bond will be made at the reference exchange rate (Com. A3500) at the closing rate on the date of formal acceptance by the Generating Agents of the MEM according to the aforementioned procedure.
b. The settlements of the MEM Creditors for the Economic Transaction of February 2024 will be settled with the funds available in the bank accounts enabled in CAMMESA for collection purposes and with those available from transfers made by the National Government to the Unified Fund for the Stabilization Fund.
On the other hand, the Secretary of Energy instructs CAMMESA to prepare and determine with each of the Debtors of the MEM, also within the period of five (5) business days from the entry into force of Resolution No. 58/2024, the amounts corresponding to each of them for the invoices for the sale of electrical energy, due in the months of February, March, and April 2024.
The Resolution stipulates that, once the amounts are determined through the signing of individual agreements, the invoices will be settled according to the following principles:
a. The Invoices of the MEM Debtors due in February and March 2024 will be settled in full through payment plans agreed upon by CAMMESA with each debtor agent. They must adhere to the following conditions: National Bank market rate; and a term of 48 months;
b. The Invoices of the MEM Debtors due in April 2024 must be settled in full within thirty (30) consecutive days from the entry into force of this resolution;
c. Invoices due in May 2024 must be settled in full under the terms and conditions established in current regulations;
d. Failure to comply with the provisions of subsections (b) and (c) will disqualify the defaulting debtor agent from entering into payment agreements under the conditions established in subsection (a) or the termination of the agreement if it precedes the breach.
Resolution No. 58/2024 also provides for the suspension of the application of the proportionality factor of Section 5.6 of Chapter V “Settlement of Creditors” of the Procedures for the Programming of Operation, Load Dispatch, and Price Calculation (“The Procedures”). This is exclusively for the purposes of the payment scheme and regarding the economic transactions of the MEM corresponding to the months of December 2023, January, and February 2024, pertaining to the Creditors of the MEM, and until their complete settlement.
Finally, the Secretary of Energy urges the granting authorities of the public electricity distribution services in Provincial or Municipal Jurisdictions to take all necessary actions to provide the Distribution Agents of the MEM with sufficient resources to fulfill the economic commitments of the MEM.
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