The announcement by the Ministry of Energy that between 16:00 and 17:30 in the afternoon there may be a power cut in Ecuador for three days, amid criticism of what some believe to be a blackout, brings back memories of the energy crisis that the country has experienced for thirty years before when Ecuadorians had to turn their clocks one hour ahead. It happened during the government of Sixto Durán-Ballén and is therefore known as Sixto’s or Sistine Clock.

The accident occurred due to the lack of rain in the areas where the main hydroelectric dams are located: the flow of the Paute dam recorded a level of almost half an average cubic meter per second. And without electricity for homes, an executive order was issued to move the official time from November 28, 1992. The measure lasted until February 5, 1993, and many people remember it, but young people don’t.

CNEL confirmed that there was an interruption in the electricity supply

By advancing the clock by sixty minutes, an effort was made to reduce energy consumption by utilizing sunlight. It was the first and last time that something like this happened in Ecuador.

Sixth’s class forced students to wake up before the sun rose and go to class at dawn. The workers also started the working day earlier.

Alexander Franco is 43 years old and remembers that he was in school then and that he was in the second year (which is now the ninth year of primary education). “It was complicated, we usually entered the schools a little before 07:00, but those who lived far away had to leave home before 06:00, and with Sixt’s time it became before 05:00,” says Franco. He adds that this was also a problem because they had to set the clocks to the new time and not everyone respected that time change.

This was manifested in the fact that sometimes people disagreed when they had work or study meetings. “What time do we meet, Sixt’s time or normal time, they asked when you meet with someone to do work or homework, and at that time there was no current technology that you can immediately block with a WhatsApp message,” he comments.

A month before the dry season, the government continues to think about importing gas and barges to avoid terrible power outages

The measure even caused a stir at the New Year celebration. Some families burned their doll at the official midnight of that time (which was actually eleven in the evening), but others did it at “God’s hour”, as the grandmothers used to say: 24 hours on the clock in 1992, but what is the reality? it was one in the morning on January 1, 1993.

“We faced the worst drought in the last 30 years without energy rationalization that would have cost at least 400 million dollars, thanks to the exemplary sacrifice and discomfort of many – especially children – and also thanks to the fact that we took urgent measures to restore the thermal power plant,” said the then president in in January 1993, which he himself published in his book. My way and how to collect it Infobae in the publication from last April.

Sixto Durán-Ballén won the presidency of the Republic through an alliance between the Republican Party of Unity and the Conservative Party. He received 2,150,212 votes out of 5,710,363 registered at the time. His mandate lasted from August 10, 1992 to August 10, 1996. He died on November 15, 2016 at the age of 95.