With the imminent arrival of the coldest months of the year, the Provincial Executive Branch ordered the allocation of benefits to families that do not have access to gas through networks. It will consist of a subsidy applied to the electricity bill of the Neuquén Provincial Energy Entity (EPEN) for four months (the coldest period from May to August) to compensate for the higher electricity consumption used to heat their homes.
As provided by Ministerial Resolution 51/24, the subsidies will be applied to the EPEN bill for around 13,000 households throughout the provincial territory that will benefit from this measure.
The Minister of Infrastructure, Rubén Etcheverry, mentioned that during a visit with Rolando Figueroa a few months ago in Villa del Nahueve, the governor received concerns from the community “which raised the problem of not having gas and on top of that having to pay more.” for firewood or jugs” and added: “in response to this proposal, Figueroa promised to take care of the issue as soon as possible and as a consequence of this, these subsidies for electrical energy provided by EPEN to users who do not have distributed gas have been implemented. through networks.”
“This has to do with a project from a province different from the one we received and that was not fair in many aspects, and this was one of them,” Etcheverry reflected and added that the provincial government “is working to make it fairer. In this way, we alleviate the situation while we develop the rest of the infrastructure,” in line with the regionalization project.
This benefit will include residential users in all areas that do not yet have home gas distribution networks, for a period that will take into account consumption during the harshest winter months.
In addition, around 1,400 residential and social residential users of the EPEN from localities that do not have a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) plant will be added. This is: Paso Aguerre, Ramón Castro, Villa Nahueve (with Los Carrizos – Bella Vista – Nahueve), Moquehue, Octavio Pico, El Alamito – Curi Leuvú and Pilo Lil.
Electric energy has a high degree of coverage for heating, not only in urban areas, but also in rural areas and in the most inhospitable areas of the province. This means that a large part of the population that lacks gas through networks turns to satisfy their winter needs through more intensive use of electricity.
“The projection for this year, in addition to adding the benefit for users whose localities do not have a supply of LPG plants, will be to allocate it to a greater number of beneficiaries, especially in the southern mountain zone and in the hydrocarbon zone of Rincón de los Sauces y Añelo”, in areas where gas distribution networks have not yet been reached.
These days, the mayors together with the EPEN service heads in each locality are signing the minutes establishing those sectors or neighborhoods that do not have gas distribution through the network and use the electrical energy supplied by the EPEN for residential use, such as sole source of energy.
This is a great effort made by the province of Neuquén (which is all of us from Neuquén) to alleviate the high heating costs required by homes in the interior of Neuquén that do not have the benefits of having the quality, uniformity and lower costs that the gas through networks.
On the other hand, to fully complement the Energy Tariff Context, Etcheverry explained that they are carrying out, at the request of the governor, a comprehensive study of the forms and quantities of energy consumption throughout the province (electric energy, gas through natural networks and LPG through the network). , jugs, firewood, etc.). “We want to generate compensation in everything according to regionalization and that for equivalent energy similar final costs can be achieved throughout the territory,” he concluded.
Bonus details
In the case of beneficiaries without a home gas network, the bonus to be granted reaches up to 30% of the variable charge. In the case of clients who are identified as from locations that are not supplied with an LPG plant, the bonus will be 50% of the fixed charge and the variable charge.
Customers from certain sectors of Añelo and Rincón de los Sauces, the main hydrocarbon producing towns at the provincial level, will be added to this benefit. In the case of Añelo, the residents of the La Meseta, La Esperanza and El Mirador neighborhoods will access the bonus, while in Rincón de los Sauces the residents of the ZR, Rincón I neighborhoods and sectors of the coastal and farm areas, Belgrano will be included. and sectors of the Libertad neighborhood.
