Mexico to cut electric subsidies
Monday's announcement from the country's energy and treasury secretaries
has
dominated Mexican newspaper headlines and radio talk shows for three days.
Analysts said the action would mean higher inflation. The electrical workers
union
called it excessive. Business leaders said the utility would do better
to cut fat and
make its operations more efficient.
Treasury Secretary Francisco Gil Diaz and Energy Secretary Ernesto Martens
told
a news conference Monday that the 10 billion pesos $1 billion saved through
reduced subsidies would go to maintenance, distribution and electricity
generation.
Gil said that subsidies grew from 10 billion pesos (about $1 billion) in
1995 to 35
billion ($3.5 billion) last year and would have reached 40 billion ($4
billion) this year
if they had not been reduced.
The plan would cut electricity subsidies for residents who use more than
125
kilowatt hours of electricity a month, starting Friday.
Only about 30 percent of all residential consumers use that much, Gil said,
though
officials have not clarified what the average increase per customer would
be.
Javier Rubiera wasn't convinced by the arguments.
"I think it's going to affect everybody," the 41-year-old systems engineer
said while
getting his shoes shined on a Mexico City boulevard.
Rubiera, who owns a computer, televisions, a refrigerator, lights and "all
that is
indispensable to a house," expected to see an increase in his bill.
He said the government needs to charge more for many currently subsidized
services -- but only after complete study.
"They can't just do it from one day to the next," he said.
An editorial cartoon in the newspaper El Universal on Wednesday showed
a
confused-looking Gil with a light bulb over his head and the words: "Less
than 125
kilowatts."
Francisco Rodriguez, 52, an unemployed civil engineer, said that instead
of
penalizing consumers already struggling t o pay their bills, the electric
company
should start charging the street vendors and shantytown residents who routinely
steal electricity by hooking their own cables up to public lines.
In Mexico City's tourist-oriented Pink Zone, illegal cables snake from
dozens of
fruit stands, newspaper kiosks and handicraft booths.
Roberto, a 28-year-old vendor who would only give his first name for fear
of
repercussions, said he does pay for the electricity that lights three bulbs
in his
newspaper stand. It's just that the company isn't getting the money.
"I had a meter and was paying," Roberto said. "But then the manager at
the light
company said, 'Hey, forget about it. It's better if you just pay me once
a month.'
The government gives you the option. They support this."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.