The Guantánamo authorities reported this Monday 260 cases of electricity theft in the first half of 2023, 90% of them in the residential sector. Losses due to fraud, local press reportedamount to 4,245,000 pesos, of which the equivalent of 849 megawatts per hour could be recovered.
The commercial director of the Unión Eléctrica (UNE) in the province, Otoniel Argüello Pileta, pointed out Guantánamo, Baracoa and Manuel Tames as the municipalities where these “illegalities” are most frequently reported.
The company claims to be taking measures to prevent electricity theft, especially since the beginning of summer, when consumption, mainly due to air conditioning equipment, skyrockets exponentially. However, the investigations, the high fines and the close surveillance of the UNE workers in charge of reading the meters – there have been cases of corruption, according to the official pressThey don’t seem to be giving results.
In 2019 the UNE reported about 17,000 fines, although they decreased to about 13,000 in the following year
Since the implementation of the Ordinance Task, in 2021, when the State stopped subsidizing current consumption, the price of electricity skyrocketed throughout the Island. This situation, which generated a series of protests, forced the National Electric System ( SEN) to reassess their prices and take measures to contain corruption.
Despite the high fines that the State charges offenders, a sector of the population is reluctant to overpay for electricity. In 2019 the UNE reported about 17,000 fines, although they decreased to about 13,000 in Next year. Most of the homes from which the violations are reported have high consumption appliances that usually require a 220 volt voltage, such as air conditioners and refrigerators.
From the use of magnets to “dizzy” the accountant, to paying the reader-collector for manipulating the reading, going through the so-called “clotheslines”, the possibilities are many and increasingly sophisticated. Sometimes they not only require the collaboration of the workers, but also the complicity of inspectors and directors who facilitate the theft and stop the consequences.
Cheating and overconsumption are often considered by Cubans as a protest against precarious and unstable service, as this diary. “Electrical predators” not only tend to turn on air conditioners and lamps as soon as they escape a blackout, they go out of their way to spend as much as they can.
UNE customers frequently complain about the blackouts, unbearable in the hot months, and the instability of the thermoelectric plants
UNE clients frequently complain about the blackouts, unbearable in the hot months, and the instability of the Nuevitas (Camagüey), Antonio Guiteras (Matanzas) and Feltón (Santiago de Cuba) thermoelectric plants, the most important of the SEN , and also those that decompensate more frequently.
The Government, for its part, announced this Sunday the stabilization of the Nuevitas power plant after a repair and has announced a number of measures to improve the energy situation, including a deal with Russia, closed at the beginning of June, for the entry of 1.64 million tons of oil per year through the Rosneft company.
However, little change is noticeable in everyday life. This Monday morning, the UNE announced new effects on services due to a deficit in generation capacity, in addition to the shutdown of the Mariel plant, unit 1 of Havana and unit 2 of Felton . New, recently repaired, it is again under maintenance.
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