Huge Hikes in Electricity Rates Become Official in Argentina

Argentina’s conservative President Mauricio Macri made official Monday huge hikes in wholesale electricity rates, which will leave some facing an increase of 700 percent after the removal of subsidies.

The Energy and Mining Ministry justified the cost increase by noting "the existing disconnect between real costs and prevailing prices and said that these prices decrease if users consume less energy.”

ANALYSIS: The Kirchner Legacy in Argentina: 12 Years of Gains

Last December Macri said that it would gradually reduce the funds allocated to the state to subsidize household consumption of electricity and gas, with Argentines now fearing the later measures will soon be imposed.

Thousands of people across the country have condemned the measure, which is part of a series of neoliberal policies implemented by the businessman who was sworn in almost two months ago.

OPINION: Mauricio Macri: A Rather Authoritarian Beginning

The beginning of Macri’s regime has been marked by nationwide protests over mass layoffs of public and private employees and also for the repression experienced by opponents to his government.

La Argentina de Macri no sólo censura, despide y reprime. Lesiona libertades individuales garantizadas por la CN #TeRevisamosElTwitter

— Aníbal Fernández (@FernandezAnibal) February 1, 201

“Macri not only dismisses, censors and represses ... He also harms the individual freedoms guaranteed by the constitution.”

Macri has also targeted journalists with his proposal to end the existing Media Law, a communications policy designed to limit the dominance of big media corporations and create space for smaller outlets and alternative voices.