The president of the National Mining Society (Sonami), Jorge Riesco, who highlighted what would be a double increase "which I do not believe is justified from the point of view of the rationality of the distribution of the costs that it should have," he indicated.
The reactions and comments continue in the context of the increase in electricity rates in Chile and the initiatives promoted by the Government of Gabriel Boric to minimize the economic impact on families' pockets, such as the so-called "electricity subsidy", a Treasury contribution for the 40% of the poorest households.
During this Monday, the Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow, announced the sending of a bill that seeks to expand and triple the coverage of the subsidy, while reducing the cost of electricity by 7% permanently, although the increases would be up to 40%
However, the local mining sector was somewhat skeptical of the measure, with the president of the National Mining Society (Sonami), Jorge Riesco, highlighting what would be a “double increase” for the industry, if it were to arrive. to materialize the executive's initiative.
In an internal meeting of the union, Riesco expressed that: “If we are talking about decarbonizing, electrifying tasks, obviously the increase in rates is bad news.”
"If, in addition, as has been said, there would be an attempt to compensate for increases in some sectors, with special charges for the largest consumers, then we would have a double increase that I do not believe is justified from the point of view of the rationality of the distribution of costs." that this increase should have,” he added, according to the economic media Pulso .
What happens is that, according to the announcement made by the Government on Monday, the expansion of the subsidy would translate into the need for additional collection by the Treasury in the order of between US$300 million and US$350 million.
This would come from three pillars: a temporary surcharge on the carbon tax, a fiscal contribution charged to the additional VAT collection due to rate increases, and finally a “temporary increase in the additional charge of the Public Service Charge corresponding to larger industrial consumers ( greater than 5,000 kWh)“.
These consumers include miners, those who have already paid an additional tax called Mining Royalty since 2023 and those who, according to local media Diario Financiero , pay 20% more expensive electricity than their Latin American peers.
MINING REPAIRS
In this sense, the mining representative said that “you have to look at this very well, you have to analyze it very well,” regarding the progress of the project.
In addition, Riesco maintained that as costs continue to rise “the margins remain the same, and it is becoming more and more difficult to operate certain tasks,” pointing out that there are some companies or projects that will be able to better face the increase. of the rates, and others that do not.
Finally, Pulso reports that the president of Sonami emphasized in the chain of projects that would be increasing the complexity of business operations, criticizing that "there is no room for absolutely all the cost surcharges that may be had."
“There is talk of a tax compliance law, a 6% additional contribution from the employer, 40 hours. We have a pool , a situation that is super complex for the management of companies,” he accused.
