Castillo Sends Bill To Reduce Poor Families' Electricity Bills

On Tuesday, Peru's President Pedro Castillo sent a bill to modify the Electric Social Compensation Fund (FOSE) so as to ensure that the most vulnerable families have a discount of up to 15 percent on their monthly electricity bills.

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Currently, high-income users subsidize Peruvian families that consume less than 100 kWh per month. Castillo proposes that this cross subsidy also be extended to citizens who consume up to 140 kWh per month, which would imply increasing the number of FOSE beneficiaries from 4.8 million citizens to over 21 million consumers.

According to the Peruvian president, the extension of the beneficiary base of FOSE would help more than 21 million Peruvians. There are currently 4.8 million users benefiting from the Compensation Fund.

"This measure does not entail any fiscal cost;" Castillo affirmed and asked Congress to approve modifications to the FOSE law as quickly as possible because "the economic situation many families are going through requires that we act with a sense of urgency and justice.”           

The Peruvian National Institute of Statistics and Information (INEI) reported that in November the Consumer Price Index at the National level increased by 0.45 percent in the country. Two large consumption groups showed the highest growth rates: housing rental, fue,l and electricity with 2.15 percentage points; and furniture and household goods (0.75).

This social policy proposal comes after Castillo overcame an impeachment motion that failed to materialize given that the far-right opposition did not get 52 votes for approval.

One of the arguments put forward to try to remove the leftist President was that inflation had risen substantially since he took office.