Initiative in Congress would give a respite to the pocket of household houses 1, 2 and 3 compared to charges for reconnection of public services

Measure seeks to relieve the financial burden of millions of Colombians.

Thousands of homes in Colombia face a reality: after recovering their ability to pay, they must assume a new expense to restore basic services such as water, light or gas. It is the collection by reconnection, a rate that, in many cases, can even exceed the monthly value of consumption. For families of strata 1, 2 and 3, this economic barrier represents a silent exclusion that affects their quality of life.

Faced with this problem, the bill ‘Reconnection without barriers’ was filed in the Senate of the Republic, an initiative promoted by Senator Jairo Castellanos Serrano, president of the Third Commission, which proposes to eliminate these charges for the most vulnerable homes in the country.

“Access to water, light and gas is a fundamental right to guarantee a dignified life.

Modification to Law 142 of 1994

The proposal contemplates a modification to Law 142 of 1994, establishing that the providing companies may not charge for reconnection or reinstatement of the service if the suspension was only due to default and it was already remedied. In other words, if a family pays its debt, it would not have to take an additional cost to have the service again.

📣🏛️ #Noticiasenado | Senate (@Senadogovco) would end with reconnection charges to strata 1, 2 and 3.

👤 Initiative of Senator Jairo Castellanos Serrano (@Jairosenador50), belonging to the game underway (@Somosenmarcha).

See note 🔗👇https://t.co/jhr1xhjgyb

– Senate of the Republic 🇨🇴 (@Senadogovco) August 5, 2025

The project seeks to guarantee that access to domiciliary public services is a right and not a privilege conditioned to additional payments. Its approach promotes tariff justice, social equity and protection reinforced to the population as vulnerability.

In addition, according to the author of the initiative, with ‘reconnection without barriers’ the social rule of law is strengthened, by eliminating obstacles that prevent the full guarantee of fundamental rights.

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