The Paraguayan government came out in defense of the power supply contract signed between ANDE and Atome, a company focused on large-scale green fertilizer production, after questions were raised about the preferential tariff granted to the project. Minister of Industry and Commerce Marco Riquelme described the tariff structure as a fundamental pillar for the country's industrialization.
The price set in the agreement is US$30 per megawatt-hour (MWh), a value that critics compare to ANDE's so-called "technical tariff," which exceeds US$40 per MWh. In an interview with Radio Monumental 1080 AM, Riquelme argued that comparisons should take into account the operational efficiency of the supply. Unlike other consumers, large-scale industries such as Atome connect directly to high-voltage lines, which reduces transmission losses to between 1.5% and 2%, compared to up to 28% recorded across the state utility's general grid.
According to the head of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, ANDE's average generation cost stands at around US$28 per MWh, and when that value is adjusted for the project's low transmission losses, the US$30 tariff remains within profitable margins. Riquelme also pointed out that an imminent reduction in the Itaipú tariff, under the renegotiation of Annex C of the binational treaty, should generate greater profitability for the state utility.
The government's defense, however, did not put the controversies to rest. The ANDE Workers' Union (Sitrande) stated that the utility's president, engineer Félix Sosa, had offered to resign after refusing to yield to government pressure to sign a contract considered harmful to the company. In a statement to the press, the union's secretary general, Adolfo Villalba, compared the situation to a similar episode that occurred at ANDE in 2019.
Engineer Guillermo López Flores, a specialist in energy matters, assessed that the tariff dispute reflects a structural weakness in Paraguay's electricity sector, organized for more than 60 years without an independent regulator to ensure clear and credible pricing rules. For López Flores, the absence of institutional framework is the cause of recurring clashes between political decisions, business interests, and technical criteria. "Large direct consumers pay much lower and more stable tariffs, while cities have to cover the entire chain of costs and risks," he said.