Electricity Tariffs for Businesses in Uruguay: How to Optimize Your Energy Costs

For every business, operating costs are a crucial factor for success. In Uruguay, electricity consumption plays a central role, as UTE (Usinas y Transmisiones Eléctricas) is the country’s sole electricity provider. A detailed understanding of the available tariffs is essential to optimize your energy costs and thus strengthen your competitiveness. As your partner for doing business in Uruguay, we help you gain clarity and make the best decisions.

Problem: Electricity costs can be a significant and unpredictable factor for businesses, especially for new entrants unfamiliar with the local system.

Solution: UTE offers a variety of tariff options tailored to different business sizes and consumption patterns, allowing for precise cost optimization.

Advantage: By choosing the right tariff, businesses can significantly reduce their energy expenses and achieve better cost predictability.

I. UTE: Your Energy Partner in Uruguay

UTE is Uruguay’s state-owned energy company, responsible for the generation, transmission, distribution, and commercialization of electricity throughout the country. Its role is crucial for the stability and development of the Uruguayan economy, as it ensures a reliable energy supply.

II. Tariff Options for Business Customers: Finding the Right Plan

UTE offers a range of tariff plans designed to meet the needs of various business customers. Choosing the right tariff depends on your business size, electricity consumption, and usage patterns.

Problem: The variety of UTE tariff options can be overwhelming, making it difficult to select the optimal plan.

Solution: UTE structures its tariffs based on the level of contracted power (Potencia Contratada) and the time of consumption.

Advantage: This segmentation allows businesses to choose a tariff that rewards their specific consumption habits, thereby minimizing costs.

A. General Simple Tariff

This is the standard tariff for non-residential customers and commercial businesses with a contracted power of up to 40 kW.

• Consumption Costs: Tiered by monthly consumption (e.g., 1 kWh to 1,000 kWh at $5.397/kWh; over 1,000 kWh at $6.194/kWh, as of January 2025).
• Power Charge: A fixed amount per kW of contracted power (e.g., $80.7/kW, as of January 2025).
• Monthly Fixed Charge: A flat fee (e.g., $261.0, as of January 2025).

B. General Time-of-Use Tariff (Tarifa General Hora-Estacional)

This tariff is optional for non-residential customers with a contracted power between 3.5 kW and 40 kW. It differentiates energy costs by time of day and season, which benefits flexible consumption patterns.

• Three Tariff Periods:
  

  • Punta (Peak): Four consecutive hours of choice, between 5:00 PM and 11:00 PM.
  • Valle (Valley): From 12:00 AM to 7:00 AM.
  • Llano (Flat): The remaining hours.

• Power Charge: Higher than the simple tariff (e.g., $125.0/kW, as of January 2025).
• Monthly Fixed Charge: Higher than the simple tariff (e.g., $350.0, as of January 2025).
• Energy Prices (as of January 2025):
  

  • Monday to Friday for the rest of the year: Valley $2.006/kWh, Flat $4.411/kWh, Peak $10.028/kWh.
  • All days in September, October, November; and Saturday, Sunday, Holidays for the rest of the year: Valley $2.006/kWh, Flat $4.411/kWh, Peak $4.411/kWh.

Problem: Standard tariffs penalize consumption during peak hours, even if operations could be flexibly adjusted.

Solution: The General Time-of-Use Tariff rewards flexible consumption patterns with differentiated prices based on time of day and season.

Advantage: Businesses can strategically shift their electricity consumption to lower-cost off-peak or flat hours, significantly reducing their energy costs.

C. Medium and Large Consumer Tariffs (Tarifas Medianos Consumidores & Grandes Consumidores)

For larger operations with a contracted power exceeding 40 kW up to 250 kW (Medium Consumers) or 200 kW and above (Large Consumers), UTE offers more complex tariffs. These involve more detailed billing based on energy consumption and measured power across various tariff periods (Valley, Flat, Peak), designed to meet the specific needs of large industrial and commercial customers.

Problem: Large businesses and industrial operations face the challenge of controlling substantial and potentially volatile energy costs without tailored solutions.

Solution: UTE provides highly granular tariffs specifically designed for high consumption, taking into account both demand and time of use.

Advantage: This enables precise cost control, power optimization, and long-term budget predictability, which is crucial for industrial and large commercial clients.

D. Additional Costs: Reactive Energy (Tarifa Reactiva)

For all tariffs, additional costs for reactive energy may apply if the power factor is below 0.92. Billing is proportional to the deviation. This particularly affects larger consumers with motors or other inductive loads.

Problem: Inefficient use of the electrical grid (e.g., due to a low power factor) can lead to unexpected additional costs.

Solution: UTE charges for reactive energy separately, which encourages businesses to optimize their power factor.

Advantage: This promotes investments in power factor correction, leading to overall energy efficiency and helping to avoid surcharges.

III. Calculation Example: Precise Energy Costs for a Bitcoin Farm

To precisely illustrate the significant differences in tariffs, let’s consider a detailed calculation example for a Bitcoin farm with an annual electricity consumption of 1,000,000 kWh. Since such a farm typically operates 24/7, costs are distributed evenly across all hours of the day. For the calculation, we assume a contracted power of 40 kW, which is the maximum for the general tariffs compared here.

Exact Annual Costs (excluding VAT, as of January 2025)

Assumptions for the calculation:

• Annual Consumption: 1,000,000 kWh (approx. 83,333.33 kWh/month)
• Operation: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (constant load)
• Contracted Power: 40 kW
• Tariff prices valid from: January 01, 2025
• Exchange rate (May 22, 2025): 1 UYU = 0.024 USD.

1. General Simple Tariff (TGS):
Monthly Energy Costs:
(1,000 kWh * $5.397/kWh) + (82,333.3333 kWh * $6.194/kWh) = $5,397.00 + $509,926.85 = $515,323.85
Monthly Power Charge (40 kW * $80.7/kW) = $3,228.00
Monthly Fixed Charge = $261.00
Total Monthly Cost (TGS): $515,323.85 + $3,228.00 + $261.00 = $518,812.85 (UYU)
Total Annual Cost (TGS): $518,812.85 * 12 months = $6,225,754.20 (UYU)

2. General Time-of-Use Tariff (THE):
For 24/7 operation over the year, costs are precisely calculated based on the hourly distribution and seasonal/daily rates. Consumption is constant across tariff periods.

Distribution of Annual Consumption (1,000,000 kWh) across Tariff Periods:
Valle (12:00 AM-7:00 AM): 291,666.67 kWh (29.17% of hours)
Llano (7:00 AM-5:00 PM & 9:00 PM-12:00 AM): 541,666.67 kWh (54.17% of hours)
Punta (5:00 PM-9:00 PM): 166,666.66 kWh (16.66% of hours)

Annual Energy Costs (THE):
Valle Cost: 291,666.67 kWh * $2.006/kWh = $584,941.67
Llano Cost: 541,666.67 kWh * $4.411/kWh = $2,390,941.67
Punta Cost (split by season/weekday):
– Portion of Punta kWh at low rate (e.g., Sep-Nov & weekends/holidays): approx. 41,666.67 kWh * $4.411/kWh = $183,808.33
– Portion of Punta kWh at high rate (remaining weekdays): approx. 125,000.00 kWh * $10.028/kWh = $1,253,500.00
Total Annual Energy Costs (THE): $584,941.67 + $2,390,941.67 + $183,808.33 + $1,253,500.00 = $4,413,191.67 (UYU)

Annual Fixed Charge ($350.0 * 12 months) = $4,200.00
Annual Power Charge (40 kW * $125.0/kW * 12 months) = $60,000.00
Total Annual Cost (THE): $4,413,191.67 + $4,200.00 + $60,000.00 = $4,477,391.67 (UYU)

Results Comparison:

Total Annual Costs (UYU):
General Simple Tariff (TGS): $6,225,754.20
General Time-of-Use Tariff (THE): $4,477,391.67

Conversion to US Dollars (Exchange rate as of May 22, 2025: 1 UYU = 0.024 USD):

(Exchange rate based on current data from May 22, 2025)

Estimated Annual Costs (USD):
General Simple Tariff (TGS): $6,225,754.20 * 0.024 USD/UYU = $149,418.10 USD
General Time-of-Use Tariff (THE): $4,477,391.67 * 0.024 USD/UYU = $107,457.40 USD

Calculation Example Conclusion:

This precise example shows that switching to the General Time-of-Use Tariff can significantly reduce annual energy costs for a continuously (24/7) operating facility like a Bitcoin farm by over $40,000 USD. Even though a Bitcoin farm cannot actively shift consumption to off-peak hours, it benefits from the generally lower energy prices of the time-based tariff compared to the simple tariff. This highlights how crucial the choice of the right tariff is for your operating costs in Uruguay.

Theoretically, 1 million kWh of energy is sufficient to mine between 1.5 and 3 Bitcoins, depending on various factors. The exact amount depends on the mining hardware, the efficiency of the setup, and the current mining difficulty. On May 22, 2025, the BTC course was 111,633.10 USD.

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