THE Ombudsman of the City of Buenos Aires, María Rosa Muiños, asked that the Increases in electricity and gas tariffs are consistent with household economies. It will be during his participation in the public hearing that he will determine the criteria by which a family will or will not receive subsidies for those services.
According to the Ministry of Energy, families will have an average spend of between $30,000 and $40,000 per month if they have “reasonable consumption” electricity and gas.
“The Republic of Argentina and the AMBA region in particular have been experiencing a profound energy crisis and a regulatory and tariff disaster for decades. This situation is set to begin to be resolved the collapse and disaster of family economies, generated by a strong devaluation, very high inflation, combined with the decline in salaries and pensions,” Muiños noted.
“Access to energy sources, drinking water and sewerage is part of the exercise of human rights,” said the Buenos Aires Ombudsman. And he added: “These are essential public services, access to which in adequate and sufficient conditions is essential for the development of life. Our function and mission, as the Office of the Ombudsman, is to protect, promote and defend rights of people, in this case of users”.
Muiños, based on estimates made by the organization, provided data on the proposed increase.
“The resolution that updated the seasonal energy price eliminated all subsidies to public bodies providing health and education services. From this month, in these factories the cost of energy will increase by 194%.“, held.
Furthermore, he warned that there will be sharp increases commercial users.
“According to unofficial calculations, a small business consuming about 212 kWh will go from paying an average monthly bill of $8,100 to one of $39,500, a increase of 389%. Similarly, a large company that consumes 3,900 kWh will go from paying an average of 150 thousand pesos to one of 590 thousand pesos, a 293% increase“, he underlined.
Muiños quoted Pope Francis at the end of his speech: “We ask that every decision taken take particular account of the need to contribute to social peace”.
The Government held the public hearing on segmentation and the new Basic Energy Basket (CBE) to legally validate the massive elimination of family subsidies, better allocate state aid and reduce the fiscal deficit.
There, on a slide, the Energy Secretariat team predicted that households with “reasonable consumption” of electricity and gas will pay on average between $30,000 and $40,000 per month adding both services.
Source: Clarin
