Deputy Minister of Electricity (e): The issue of prices is something that must be further reviewed

“The tariff must be reviewed so that the system has more liquidity”, because the 0.09 that the end consumer pays “is not enough”. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Electricity (e), Juan José Espinosa, in the midst of the energy crisis that Ecuador is currently going through.

“The issue of tariffs is something that must continue to be re-examined, the tariff must be re-examined so that the system has more liquidity, because in itself production, distribution and everything is not enough with 0.09 cents as it is paying to the end consumer”, he said official on Teleamazonas on October 31.

The business sector recognizes that the import of energy products was necessary, but warns that it is not the final solution to the electricity crisis

As of last Friday, October 27, planned blackouts began in almost all provinces in the country, according to government authorities, to protect the system and avoid an electrical collapse.

In the way that they announced rationing of four hours in the Sierra and the Amazon and three hours on the coast, but these times were reduced to 50%, between Monday, October 30 and Wednesday, November 1, as Colombia’s contribution is expected to (450 MW) and Peru (50 MW) will alleviate power outages.

The 50 percent reduction in electricity rationing time, according to the official, was due to several reasons, among them, precisely because of the negotiations with Colombia and Peru, due to the increase in flow in the southern area, but also this, due to various actions.

“Since the first day that I have been in charge of this vice ministry, we have already issued two ministerial agreements, we have prepared for emergency situations and within that we have carried out several actions, the first of which is being led by the president and the minister on the issue with Colombia. We have to secure those 450 megawatts,” he explained.

About $2.6 million is estimated in losses in Quito’s commercial sector during November due to power outages

In order to secure those 450 megawatts, he said, they are doing it with technical tables that already started on Monday the 30th, for which Colombia is completely open. He indicated that before the president’s trip to Colombia, the country gave Ecuador 200 megawatts “at best, sometimes they go down to less,” but on Monday they gave up to 400 megawatts. “The agreement has started to work,” he said.

On Saturday, October 28, President Guillermo Lasso traveled to Colombia to meet with his counterpart, Gustavo Petro. After the meeting, it was announced that the neighboring country will export electricity to Ecuador.

As for payment alternatives, he said it could be energy swaps or derivatives because those are part of the president’s deal.

Regarding the costs, he said that Colombia has a different system, difficult to explain and in which private operators are also involved, and there is a difference. “One thing must be said, in April, for example January of this year, we paid 0.09 cents, in fact it is increasing because they had to turn on their thermal power plants to give us that energy”, he pointed out.

Colombia delivered thermal energy to Ecuador at prices that reached up to 57 cents kwh.