Gas bills began to arrive with very strong increases, and this does not yet reflect the complete elimination of subsidies or the update of the winter rate, when gas is not only more expensive but is characterized by being the season of highest consumption.
Strictly speaking, the Government postponed the elimination of these benefits until June. What impacts the bills that users are receiving is the increase in fixed and variable costs that include natural gas placed at the Point of Entry to the Transportation System (PIST) at a dollar value, also at the fluid transportation rate. for the trunk gas pipelines to the consumption centers, and at the rates for the Home Distributors (VAD).
However, a great dispersion of rates is observed when considering the level of consumption, geolocation and purchasing power of the user. What must be clarified is that we start from a much higher floor due to the increase in the fixed charge incidence, which is the dollarized price of gas. This explains cases where increases exceeded 1300%.
Strikingly, since last month, given the same consumption, a high-income user who no longer has subsidies faces an average increase of 344%, while low-income and medium-income users face final bills with increases of 475% and 456% respectively, according to the Tariffs and Subsidies Observatory at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy (IIEP).
Worse is the situation of businesses and industries that pay between three and seven times more for their gas bills than what they had paid in December. “For these categories the fixed position increased, in both cases, by 694%. However, the variable position increased 645%” distinguishes the work of the IIEP.
In the case of Santa Fe, Enargás simply accepted Litoral Gas’s request and expanded the incidence of the fixed charge over the variable charge in the rate. The consequence was invoices with average increases of 900% for consumption in the month of April.
In the Buenos Aires district of Punta Indio, the last gas bill for the El Ángel Azul children’s home came with an amount just under 800 thousand pesos. This is a problem common to many children’s institutions and organizations.
In Patagonia the situation is dramatic. “And we have not yet reached the full rate, because within two months a family in TDF will end up paying between 50 and 55 thousand pesos for gas,” said Moisés Solorza, former Secretary of Energy of Tierra del Fuego and added “This is a energy tragedy”.
