With a 400% increase in tariffs under the Milei administration, the blackout affects more than 600 people in Buenos Aires.

Brazil of Fact - A massive blackout in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, left more than 600 people without power on Wednesday (5) amid a heat wave with temperatures up to 40ºC. On the morning of this Thursday (6), more than 8 people remained without service, according to the National Electricity Regulatory Authority (Enre).

O government of Javier Milei He said that Enre is working to find out "whether it was the result of non-compliance on the part of the companies or an accident," since "the information is being compiled, first we have to study what happened." Consumer protection agencies claim that the blackout is explained by the delay in expanding the electricity transmission system.

“The lack of work on extending the electricity transmission system puts the service at risk,” said the Association for the Defense of Users and Consumers (Deuco), a position defended in public hearings at the end of February to determine the new tariff increases. The government approved indexing tariffs according to past inflation, but the investments are not being made.

Like Deuco, the Union of Users and Consumers (UUyC) points to the disproportionate nature of tariff increases in relation to investments made to prevent problems in electricity transmission networks. The government increased electricity tariffs by 400% in 2024, which now represents an increasingly larger proportion of household income, which has not increased proportionally. In addition to inflation indexation, tariffs are rising due to the removal of subsidies.

In an interview with the Argentine newspaper Page 12Fernanda Lacey, a member of the UUyC board, points out that in 2023, approximately 60% of the cost of energy was subsidized for middle-income users, a proportion that fell to 50% after Milei's cuts. For low-income users, subsidies fell from 75% to 65%.

“The government’s goal is to eliminate subsidies for the middle class, leaving only two groups of users: those with and those without subsidies. From UUyC’s perspective, we are against the removal of subsidies; we believe it is unnecessary to continue with this criterion of indefinite increases,” states Lacey.

A first massive blackout occurred in the early morning, affecting more than 500 people. The second power outage happened at noon and affected 620 people. According to information from the concessionaire Edesur, the blackout was caused by a fault in two high-voltage lines, which involved the interruption of generating machines amidst high temperatures.

Fifteen hours after the incident, only one line had been restored, and more than 360,000 people remained without power. The power outage caused chaos in the Argentine capital. Traffic lights stopped working, causing traffic jams throughout the city. The subway also stopped operating, and trains departed with delays, forming huge queues on the streets of Buenos Aires.

Police crack down on pensioners' protest. On Wednesday (5), the Argentine Federal Police violently repressed the protest of retirees in front of the country's National Congress for the third consecutive time. Despite the heat and chaos caused by power cuts in the city of Buenos Aires, hundreds of demonstrators attended the call promoted every Wednesday by groups such as Jubilados Insurgentes, Unión de Trabajadores Jubilados en Lucha (UTJEL) and Plenario de Trabajadores Jubilados.

After the group of protesters went into the street, the police surrounded them with their motorcycles and began spraying them with tear gas and beating them. According to the Comisión Provincial por la Memoria (CPM), at least 40 people were injured.

Protest against layoffs - Another focus of protests on Wednesday (5) was the headquarters of the Ministry of Human Capital, convened by the Association of State Workers (ATE), to reject the decision of the head of the agency, Sandra Petovello, to dismiss more than 2 workers.

In early March, most employees were notified by email of their dismissal and the non-renewal of their contracts, without prior notice. Most of the dismissed employees belonged to the Children, Adolescents and Family area of ​​the Children, Adolescents and Family Ministry.

Many of those laid off were long-time employees of that department, which announced the move as part of the state's downsizing plan being promoted by Javier Milei's far-right government.