Water and electricity service rates reduced for agricultural producers

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 15 (ACN) The Cuban government decided to reduce the rates for the payment of water and electricity services for Cuban agricultural producers, retroactively as of January 2021, with the aim of contributing to the reduction of costs in food production
Meisi Bolaños Weiss, Minister of Finance and Prices, explained this measure is included within the transformations assumed immediately by the country's leadership to also stimulate compliance with delivery and contracting plans, in a context of adverse conditions imposed by the COVID-19.

The Minister pointed out that, in the case of electricity, the reductions cover the M3A modalities (register and meter independent of the dwelling) with 28.50 percent and M3B (meter with three registers) with up to 31.13 percent reduction in the early hours of the morning, when consumption is stimulated.

She pointed out that these tariffs will be fixed throughout 2021, regardless of the fluctuation of oil prices in the international market and the structure of domestic generation, and in this sense the State budget assumes the differences.

The measure also allows the contracting of the service directly with the producer, which previously was only done through the productive base, although now the boards of these may charge the rates to their associates, in which cases the Electric Company assumes the payment of a three percent commission to the cooperative for this service.

In this sense, the Minister of Finance and Prices pointed out the elimination of the automatic charge for electricity (one of the oldest claims of the sector) and also for water supply.

Regarding water, she added that differentiated reductions were defined for rice production (32 percent), a food that requires a very high level of irrigation, and 22 percent for the rest of the items, while the cost was modified from 17.5 pesos to 7.5 pesos per thousand cubic meters of underground water.

The contracting of the service will also be directly with the producers and it is established that the cooperatives will pay only for the water it actually consumes, with a view to which it is extremely pertinent to perfect the current systems of metering, quantification and billing of water, Bolaños Weiss noted.

This Tuesday, when announcing the package of 63 new measures aimed at increasing food production, Cuban President Miguel Díaz- Canel expressed his confidence "in our producers; in our state enterprise, which has to be strengthened; in the cooperative sector; and in our peasantry, because you are actors who were born and developed with the Revolution, who were dignified with the Revolution, and you have also contributed to the Revolution."