Monday, September 19, 2016 Empty seats at final gas hearingMultiple absentees as consultation on hikes endsPublic hearing on proposed natural gas price increases closed yesterday with the notable absence of 100 speakers, an express 80-minute session with only twelve debaters and an almost empty auditorium at the Usina Del Arte exhibition centre. Aranguren also announced that final details of the final natural gas rate hikes will be known in October, and that the Energy Ministry’s team will be holding a meeting today in order to schedule the new and definite increases to be applied from next month. “The state should make the proposal an open one by publishing the costs of natural gas,” state provincial prosecutor Eduardo Allende told the press. “About 40 percent of Argentine homes are (currently) paying 300 pesos (instead of 107 pesos) per month because they have to buy gas cylinders ... We want Argentines to have greater access to the natural gas network”, he concluded. On Friday, the Energy minister promised a progressive elimination of energy subsidies through October 2019, at which point they will equal zero except for Patagonia, Malargue and the Puna, where they will have energy subsidies through October 2022.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald September 19, 2016 02:26 UTC