After the collective protection presented by the governor Gustavo Melella and the entire political arc of Tierra del Fuego, the federal justice system ordered the suspension of increases in gas rates in the province for three months. In Ushuaia, complaints about power outages are growing. One of lime and another of sand.
The protection was presented in response to the excessive increases of up to a thousand percent suffered by Fuegian consumers.
The resolution that bears the signature of the federal judge Mariel Borruto gives rise to the precautionary measure and establishes “suspending the effects of resolution 41/2024 of the Ministry of Energy of the Nation -National State- and resolution 122/2024 issued by the National Gas Regulatory Entity (ENARGAS), and making inform the aforementioned entities that they must refrain from applying the new tariff tables stipulated there to all users and consumers of the public gas service through networks in the Tierra del Fuego tariff subzone.
In addition, rejects the request for refund or compensation of excess fees paid until a final ruling is issued. The main basis of the ruling is that “the new rates do not comply with the principles of predictability, proportionality and gradualness established in laws 24,240 and 24,076.”
On May 23, accompanied by the entire political spectrum of the province, the governor of Tierra del Fuego, Gustavo Melella, signed a collective protection to stop rate increases in gas bills corresponding to the month of April. In an event that took place in the Government House, he questioned the President of the Nation Javier Milei, whom he accused of making a “ferocious adjustment” in the provinces “with the objective of showing through the media in Buenos Aires that inflation is going down.” ».
Likewise, Melella denounced “complicity between the national government and the Camuzzi company distributor.” The president criticized the gas distribution company in the southern part of the country, which he questioned for not having made any investment to improve the service to users, having to be the national and provincial State that made investments so that people can access gas through the network.
Polar wave and energy crisis
In the midst of below-zero temperatures and the dark days of winter, the city of Ushuaia, the Fuegian capital, experienced power outages again over the weekend. The provincial government insisted that these are due to the low gas pressure received by the Ushuaia plant, which causes a reduction in energy generation.
“The pressure conditions received by the plant force us to schedule rotating cuts in electrical energy,” said Energy Minister Alejandro Aguirre, while explaining that “the low temperatures recorded last week not only generated an increase in gas consumption but also caused problems in the gas production fields, since due to the very low temperatures, the formation of hydrates occurs in the entry lines to the compressors of the treatment plants that must be injected into the gas pipelines. trunks, affecting normal gas volumes.
From the opposition, legislator Jorge Lecham criticized the government of Gustavo Melella and all the governors who have passed through the province in the last 25 years: “It would be good for a mea culpa to be made, because there is no investment in energy nor predictions made. necessary,” he said. He also assessed that one of the problems is that, “of the last 4 governors, 3 have been from Rio Grande and they have not given Ushuaia the importance it deserves.”
It happens that unlike Río Grande, where the electricity service is provided to citizens by a cooperative, in Ushuaia it is under the orbit of the Provincial Energy Directorate.
