Court rules tariff hike unconstitutional

Guatemala's constitutional court has declared the March 2004 hike in the country's so-called social electricity tariff to be unconstitutional, state power company INDE spokesperson Fredy López told BNamericas. The social tariff gives preferential prices to residential clients that consume up to 300kWh/month. Tariffs can be adjusted every three years, and were set at 0.74 quetzales/kWh (US$0.0957) in 2001. In March this year INDE began charging 1.34 quetzales/kWh for residential consumption of 101-300kWh a month, but the court has now ordered INDE to return the money that was charged under the higher rate, López said. INDE presented a new proposal on Tuesday of this week under which an increase in the social tariff would be applied to all clients that consume up to 300kWh a month, he said, declining to specify the scale of the proposed rise.