Minister Andrea Arrobo announced a few minutes ago that she managed to reach an agreement with the Colombian Ministry of Energy, so that the neighboring country could sell cheaper electricity to Ecuador. The agreement that the same minister published on the Internet was translated into a resolution of the Ministry of Energy, which states that the export of electricity during the El Niño phenomenon “will be carried out exclusively using production from centrally dispatched thermal power plants, which are not necessary in economic dispatch to cover the total domestic or national demand.”

Mainly what changes in this agreement, compared to the previous one managed by former President of the Republic Guillermo Lasso, is the phrase “centrally distributed heating plants”. The previous one spoke only about “thermal power plants that run on liquid fuels”.

But does this change really guarantee a price improvement?

According to Fernando Salinas, an expert on energy issues, the price will not drop significantly. In any case, the energy that Colombia will sell us could be a little cheaper.

The technician explains that energy from thermal power plants that run on liquid fuels is the most expensive, because it runs on diesel. In this sense, Ecuador paid up to 57 kWh for this electricity. Which is a very expensive price.

Meanwhile, Salinas indicates that district heating would already include generation with diesel, natural gas and fuel oil or even coal. Which could reduce costs somewhat. For Salinas, it is still too early to know what the import value of energy will be with this change, but he says that we are currently importing at 40 cents per kWh, which is still an extremely high price.

Salinas assures that costs could fall only when Colombia could sell us hydroelectric power.

The Minister said that Colombia’s Minister of Energy has promised to supply Ecuador with energy, as long as the dry season lasts and its hydrological reserves allow it. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission (CREG) and the Mining and Energy Planning Unit (UPME).

As for the time of energy delivery according to the agreed terms, in the previous document it was indicated that it would be until April 30, 2024, and the new one kept the same date.

According to data from the National Electricity Operator (Cenace), Ecuador produced 88,784 MWh of energy yesterday. Of this, 65% (58,065 MWh) is from hydropower plants, i.e. production from hydropower plants. Meanwhile, 35% (30,719 MWh) was from thermal and non-conventional production. Within the thermal production, there is also production imported from Colombia. This was equivalent to 7,020 MWh on December 13.