On October 7, 2023, several former ministers of…e Mines and energy They urged the government in a letter to do this measures “on time” before the financial crisis where 17 energy marketing companies come along and that threatens the electrical sector from the country.
They warned at the time that the country faced a difficult outlook, also driven by “the upward pressure on energy prices already observed with the arrival of the El Niño phenomenon, the uncertainty about the gas supply to meet short- and medium-term demand and the uncertainty in which fundamental institutions are involved in dealing with complex situations such as these.”
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And they concluded, “We must act now, Mr. President. It is in your hands to prevent the country from running a costly and unnecessary risk of a blackout.”
One of the signatories was former Minister of Mines Amylkar Acosta, who pointed out on Friday, April 19, that the letter sent six months ago appears to have been sent today. He also doubted that if they had been listened to when they made these warnings, the current scenario would not be so dramatic.
‘We would have had a less dramatic scenario, we would have saved water in the reservoirs, We would not be under the stress we are in now (…) late and premature decisions are being made. Only this week the Minister (Andrés Camacho) issues a resolution asking the thermals to operate at their maximum capacity to prevent this rationingWhen he made the decision, the thermal power plants were already generating 112 GWH (gigawatt hours per day) and the maximum capacity is 120,” he explained in conversation with Blu Radio.
He explained that warnings had been given about the presence of the El Niño phenomenon: “It is a severe El Niño, one of the strongest we have ever had, but it is only the trigger for this crisis we are in. We were warned that the crazy was coming and warned about it, we had to start making the pending decisions for this unforeseen event. That is why we proposed introducing an energy savings incentive program, we have not stopped doing it, and even before yesterday morning deputy minister of energy ruled out that possibility,” he said on the station.
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And he noted: “Strangely enough, a draft resolution from the Creg comes out later for comment offering these incentives for savings, we have lost six months.”
As for the Citizen’s Day decree, Amylkar Acosta He pointed out that it is no longer a rationing measure: “There has been unpredictability and improvisation. Although this decision has had a different connotation, the truth is that it is the same measure taken by the President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, where they are in rationing. I interpret this decree as a rationing measure,” he said.
Finally, he claimed that the current crisis is “caused” by the government “because of the way it refuses to understand it, because of the denial on the part of the Minister of Mines about the crisis we are in.”
Source: El heraldo
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
