The Supreme Court has unanimously decided to halt the increase in gas prices, put forward by the Energy Ministry under Juan José Aranguren, for residential consumers, or homes. In addition, Judges Ricardo Lorenzetti, Carlos Maqueda, Elena Highton de Nolasco and Horacio Rosatti stipulated that policy changes of this nature (such as service hikes) must first be presented to the people through public hearings before being implemented. This is in accordance with Article 42 of the Constitution. When the Federal Court of La Plata ruled to ban gas price increases across the country, the Macri administration appealed the ruling, bringing it to the Supreme Court, which today has supported the Federal Court’s decision. Energy Minister Aranguren appeared on Tuesday before a special committee in Congress to justify the steep increases in utilities, collectively known as the tarifazo, including the increase in gas prices.

Source: The Bubble August 18, 2016 15:11 UTC