Governor Gustavo Melella led this Thursday, at Government House, the signing of the collective protection appeal that will be presented before the Federal Justice of Río Grande to reverse the increase in gas rates in Tierra del Fuego.
“Today is a historic day,” said the president from Government House when beginning the zoom presentation in connection with the cities of Tolhuin and Río Grande, an opportunity in which he thanked the three Fuegian Mayors for their support; national deputies and senators for Tierra del Fuego; Legislators, Councilors, as well as the support of the commercial sector, civil institutions; sports, unions and NGOs, among others.
The collective protection seeks to obtain a precautionary measure in relation to Resolution No. 41/2024 of the Ministry of Energy of the Nation and resolutions No. 122/2024 and No. 224/2024 of the National Gas Regulatory Entity (ENARGAS). and the impact on the Province of the so-called “Tierra del Fuego” tariff subzone.
For the Governor “this is not a protection from the Government, but from all Fuegian people”, understanding that in this situation “we are all together defending something that harms us all.”
Calling the increase in the gas service that Fuegian homes are receiving a “brutal rate”, Melella recalled that “in Tierra del Fuego we have a much higher consumption than in other provinces”, making it “absurd that we have the price of gas at a value just 3% lower than in CABA, when Patagonia is a hydrocarbon producer.”
“The increase we are experiencing is lethal and we have to be closer than ever, because the situation is serious and this also affects employment,” he remarked.
Likewise, Melella raised as an example that the Provincial Government’s investments in works related to the gas service reach 48 million dollars “plus what our three Municipalities did that would have to be added,” pointing out that “when we connect to a neighbor ends up benefiting from Camuzzi and they start billing automatically.”
Regarding this, he announced that “Camuzzi is going to have to think about how he is going to pay the Province because we are going to collect it,” Melella assured while recalling that “we do not do the gas works for Camuzzi but for our people, but “We are going to charge them.”
In the same way, the Governor appreciated that “today we all defend each other and that is why this protection is not from a Governor or a Government but from all Fuegian people, and it is a protection of solidarity because perhaps the neighbor who has not yet received the increase is done jointly with the SMEs, with the merchant; Our teachers are supportive, our doctors and our nurses, our police officers, our State workers, but also the industry workers, the artisans or the monotributistas, those who are unemployed are supportive.”
“We are all together, the mayors, the senators, almost all the deputies, almost all the legislators, our councilors, our union leaders, our chambers, our universities, the people of Tierra del Fuego are together and united to defend and stop today this brutal increase,” he pondered.
The Governor asked the National Government “to reflect, to think and to understand the interior of our country,” pointing out that “gas consumption in the Buenos Aires microcenter is not the same as in Argentine Patagonia.”
Finally, the president stressed that what is sought through collective protection “is the suspension of this increase but also the return of the difference that has been collected or wants to be collected, and if there were cuts because it could not be paid, the reconnection too.”
“Those are the three main objectives that we have with this precautionary measure that, respecting the Federal Justice, we nevertheless ask for maximum speed. “This is a protection from the people of Tierra del Fuego, in defense of Tierra del Fuego and for the people of Tierra del Fuego,” he concluded.
