As a result of this, Carlos Rejala, national deputy for Hagamos, will present today, Monday, on tables, a bill that seeks the immediate reduction of the electricity rate of the National Electricity Administration (ANDE).
He points out that Itaipu’s production cost fell by 20% and that should be reflected in the bill of all Paraguayans, starting this month.
He affirms that it cannot be that Brazil has already lowered its price and our Government continues to want to reach into people’s pockets.
“The reduction of electricity should be for all Paraguayans and the sale of our surplus at market price. Enough of surrender, bosses, bribes and corruption, ”he commented.
The legislator affirms that he has not yet shared the project with other legislators, but that only this week will he be able to know the positions that his colleagues from other benches will have in relation to this.
“We will see it in session and period. It is not something new for me. Before the pandemic, in 2019, he argued that energy should be cheap for all Paraguayans and that the commercialization of our energy be sold in Asunción through public auction, in a transparent way and not in Itamarati at the price of ‘bananas’ to the Brazilians,” he said.
Regarding Bolsonaro’s position, he said that last November, when the Foreign Ministry stated that he was going to Brazil to negotiate maintaining the tariff, he already warned that it was all just a smokescreen.
“The reduction in the cost of energy production fell from US$22 to US$18. Paraguay remained the same, Brazil fell. They will say that the neighboring country has other situations, but they will not be able to deny that the cost of production has dropped. The Paraguayan State has to lower that same percentage. Paraguay has to do the same thing that Brazil did”, he commented.
IMMEDIATE
The legislator finally pointed out that in the event that this project is enacted, the reductions will materialize immediately. In the event that the project is not discussed today, Rejala will present it at the next ordinary session of Deputies to be held on Wednesday, April 20.
This week, the only session will take place on the date in advance of Wednesday’s session for reasons of Easter.
PRESS CONFERENCE
On March 29, Manuel María Cáceres, Paraguayan general director of Itaipú Binacional, and Félix Sosa, head of ANDE, gave a press conference where they gave details on how the negotiations on the Itaipú 2022 tariff are progressing.
Both senior officials announced that the negotiations are stalled because Brazil wants to reduce the rate to US$18.95 per kW/month while Paraguay wants to keep it at US$22.6.
This is due to the fact that our country wants to carry out infrastructure improvements in ANDE for US$203 million, in order to be able to use 50% of the energy generated by Itaipu.
While high officials continue to negotiate, in Brazil they are already specifying the reductions.
