Gas bills will begin to arrive with very strong increases to SMEs in Patagonia and to homes in southern Argentina due to the double taxation brought about by the dollarization of prices.
As far as he could know The Southern Opinion The largest increases will be in the bills of smaller businesses and industries in the province of Santa Cruz as well as residential users in towns where natural gas does not reach the network and they are supplied with LPG, Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
How much are the increases in the gas rate in Santa Cruz?
Liquefied Petroleum Gas Users
In the province of Santa Cruz, the highest increases will be suffered by some 9,000 users in six towns that are supplied with LPG because the gas pipeline does not reach their towns. Residential residents of El Chaltén will have an increase of 1,140%; those who, for example, paid $6,900 for average consumption (579 m3) will receive a bill of $85,620. In the homes of Gobernador Gregores, Los Antiguos, Perito Moreno, Lago Posadas and Bajo Caracoles the same scheme will be repeated.
Santa Cruz businesses will have an increase of more than 1,000%
The SMEs and shops throughout the province of Santa Cruz and in the south of Chubut will have an increase similar to that of residential users who use LPG. The Southern Opinion could know what will be achieved 1,136% increase. A merchant from Río Gallegos in SGP 1 category who paid $9,500 for an average consumption of 702 m3, for example, will now pay $117,551. One of the same category in Caleta Olivia, for example, will go from $9,713 to $115,408.
The dozens of industries that have the highest consumption, on the other hand, will have a rate increase of 484% in the south and 463% in the provincial north. A ticket of $400,000 will exceed $2.4 million.
The high gas rate in Río Gallegos and south of Santa Cruz
In the south of the province of Santa Cruz, Río Gallegos, El Calafate, Río Turbio, 28 de Noviembre, Piedra Buena and Puerto Santa Cruz, residential users of the unsubsidized high-income segment They will have an average increase of 491%. A category R1 home that consumed 283 m3 will go from a bill of $3,785 to $23,309 starting in June. A category R3 1 home that consumed 709 m3 will go from a bill of $9,939 to $58,404.
The users of the low income segmentare the homes that will have the most increase with an average increase of 578%. A category R1 home that consumed 317 m3 will go from a bill of $1,647 to $11,548 starting in June. A category R3 1 home that consumed 696 m3 will go from a bill of $3,999 to $26,903.
In the homes of middle income segments, the average increase will be 529%. In this segment, the greatest increase will be those who consume the least. There, a category R1 family that consumed 332 m3 on average annually will go from a bill of $2,051 to $14,516. A category R3 1 home that consumed 745 m3 will go from a bill of $8,522 to $52,439.
Gas increases in the north of Santa Cruz and south of Chubut
In Caleta Olivia, Puerto Deseado, Pico Truncado and the rest of the towns from San Julián to the north of Santa Cruz (also to the south of Chubut), users in the high-income segment without subsidy will have an average increase of 449%. A category R1 home that consumed 285 m3 will go from a bill of $3,964 to $22,441 starting in June. A category R3 1 home that consumed 709 m3 will go from a bill of $10,376 to $56,859.
Users in the low-income segment will suffer an average increase of 492%. A category R1 home that consumed 357 m3 will go from a bill of $1,936 to $10,580 starting in June. ORA category R3 1 home that consumed 696 m3 will go from a bill of $4,287 to $24,775.
In households in middle-income segments, the average increase will be 485%. There, a category R1 family that consumed 382 m3 will go from a bill of $2,056 to $13,022 starting in June. A category R3 1 home that consumed 745 m3 will go from a bill of $8,830 to $30,884.
The governor of Santa Cruz will go to court to stop the high rate
When Governor Claudio Vidal met with the Minister of the Interior of the Nation Guillermo Francos in Casa Rosada, he asked him to reverse the increase in rates. He explained to Javier Milei’s official how it would impact the families and companies in the province, where the gas is produced, and told him that he would do everything possible to stop the measure.
Now he announced that he will resort to Supreme Court of Justice to stop the measurement.
“I went to Court, I explained it to the national government and I told it to the president of the Nation. Santa Cruz has towns that in some months of the year have 25 or 30 degrees below zero,” said the provincial president during a tour of Puerto Deseado.
Claudio Vidalwhich maintains an ambivalent relationship with the policies of Javier Milei, in this case he questioned national officials because “they take measures from Buenos Aires without doing a prior analysis of the entire country. Mr. President, Santa Cruz has 25, 30 degrees below zero in the middle of winter, we need cheap, accessible gas, which we also produce, so be careful,” he stressed.
The Southern Opinion could know that from the State Prosecutor’s Office They are taking complaints from users who are faced with the impossibility of paying the rates. “The Emergency law gives me a legal instrument so that in the coming days I can knock on the door of the Supreme Court of Justice. “I’m going to court,” explained the governor, who in the middle of the attack reiterated that he prefers “that the national government does well because if the national government does well, it does well for all of us.”
Given the increase and dollarization, the Chamber of Deputies of the province of Santa Cruz sanctioned at the end of April the Energy Emergency Law which authorizes Governor Claudio Vidal to “arbitrate all necessary administrative and legal measures, in order to avoid excessive increases in the rates of public gas and electricity services.” The law understands that both “are essential services due to the low temperatures and extreme weather conditions” of the province.
