With energy contributions expected from Colombia (450 MW) and Peru (50 MW), the executive is hoping to ease the blackouts that began last Thursday in Ecuador. However, how the energy will enter and when the effects will start to be felt, remains to be seen, we have to wait. Until that happens, the production sector anticipates tens of millions of dollars in losses if the electricity restrictions continue as last Saturday. There were no restrictions on Sunday, but it was announced that they will continue this Monday, October 30.

In addition to economic effects, businessmen also express concern about insecurity. They show that a power shortage in the country of between three and four hours a day for more than a month is the equivalent of a two-week national strike. The Ministry of Energy and Mining ordered power outages lasting four hours for the Sierra and Amazon, and three for the coast, all in order to protect the system and avoid an electrical collapse.

To put into perspective the economic impact on the shrimp sector, the National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA) stated that in just one of the critical links of the chain, the processing plants, when they were forced to cease operations, the estimated losses targeted more than 3 million dollars a day.

Businessmen attribute the power outage to “recklessness of the authorities”

According to the President of the Ecuadorian Business Committee, Miguel Ángel González, the most productive sectors of the economy, industrial and commercial, require 56% of Ecuador’s electricity consumption, so power outages directly affect the turbines. “In addition to economic losses, power outages leave Ecuadorians and businesses at the mercy of insecurity and extortion,” he commented.

CNA’s executive president, José Antonio Camposano, said the shrimp sector is very demanding in terms of energy in the production chain. “We have to remember that the production of balanced food is a 24/7 industrial process, when our access to energy is limited, we have to produce in smaller quantities because we have limited schedules, which means less food available for 230,000 hectares of shrimp production what the country has,” he explained.

Camposano indicated that just as there is food production, there is also an industrial chain of shrimp processing, emphasizing that it is a product that is processed, frozen and shipped, and that the entire link also works 24/7, so losses will be recorded from day cuts will be counted in tens of millions of dollars.

“In one month, the shrimp sector will lose $150 million in exports and domestic production of various inputs, as well as the risk of losing shrimp kept in ponds that use electric pumping and aeration systems,” Camposano said.

For his part, the president of the Chamber of Industry of Guayaquil, Francisco Jarrín, commented that this rationing creates considerable concern for several reasons, among them the lower levels of production activity and sales that have occurred this year, and that it will worsen precisely in the months in which they exist opportunities for recovery such as November and December.

The first day of the blackout: businesses, between uncertainty about the schedule and calculation of the impact

González, who is also president of the Guayaquil Chamber of Commerce, said it is still unclear how much the losses could be, since it is not known how long they will last. However, he said that it is unequivocal that this is a big blow to the state. “For Ecuador, being without electricity between 3 and 4 hours a day for more than 1 month is the equivalent of a national strike of half a month. In the current economic situation, we cannot afford to work part-time,” González said.

Camposano indicated that although there may be companies that have a plan B with which they can work for a few hours, it must be taken into account that this also implies other costs, working partially and not being able to maintain production at 100% capacity, so it creates a risk of loss.

“Unfortunately, there are no measures that can be taken. You can say that I am buying generators, it is not enough for what is required, it is not equipment that is bought and installed tomorrow like buying a new battery for a vehicle,” said Camposano, who is also the chairman of the board of directors of the Guilds Corporation of Ecuador exporters (Cordex).

The Minister of Energy, Fernando Santos, announced the rationalization of energy of 4 hours a day in Sierra and Oriente; and 3 hours on the coast

Meanwhile, Jarrín commented that there are several options for the industrial sector to cover the demand for electricity and that they also entail higher costs compared to electricity obtained from the public grid.

Camposano questioned the denial that there was a power problem. “The worst thing is that it was rejected, it’s a thing that was rejected, it was first said no, that it was far away, that it wouldn’t happen. Then it was said that it seems to be coming, but not necessarily, that on top of that it gets even worse because instead of a transparent flow of information, monitoring from month to month, from week to week, warnings, in the business sector we have a number of concerns”, he emphasized.

He also indicated that “this crisis requires urgent actions, but also the determination of those responsible for the negligence that brought us to this situation so that they are properly punished”. Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector is waiting to learn this week the details of how the energy cuts will be eased until they are minimized or almost eliminated, as projected by President Guillermo Lasso last Sunday upon his arrival in Guayaquil from Bogota.