The governor of Vichada, Alexys Benito, assured that the National Government’s debt exceeds $5 million.
Power generators, reference image.
From the afternoon of this Thursday, January 2, 2025, More than 40 thousand inhabitants of Puerto Carreño, in Vichada, are in the dark due to a National Government debt that exceeds $5 billion with the service provider company and with Terpel, the company in charge of the sale of Diesel.
According to Alexys Benito, governor of Vichada, from April 2024, The National Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy, does not disburse the payments corresponding to the companies that provide electrical service.
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“The energy system collapsed because the company that generates energy in Puerto Carreño, RefoEnergy, claims that Since April, the National Government has not transferred resources to it, so they were left without cash flow to pay the suppliers, who are the ones who supply the wood to, through biomass, generate energy in the capital of Vichada,” explained the Governor.
As RCN Radio learned, Said Government debt with RefoEnergy amounts to $1.6 billion.
In addition to this debt, The Ministry of Finance has another outstanding amount of $4,588 million with Terpel, Therefore, they are not supplying fuel to the Vichada Electrification Plant.
“The department’s electrification company, ElectroVichada, has some backup plants that work with ACPM, but Terpel, which is the one who supplies this fuel, also states that since September they have not received payment for this fuel delivered to the electrification company, and for this reason, it does not deliver fuel either. That is, we neither generate energy with biomass nor do we have a way to generate energy with Diesel,” added the governor.
In the face of the crisis, The governor explained that more than 40 thousand inhabitants are in the darkwhile the San Juan de Dios Hospital, which provides its services in Puerto Carreño, as well as police stations and military bases, are operating with their own plants. Howeverwarns that these will not be able to generate energy for a long time.
In addition, thousands of small and medium-sized merchants report losses due to the supply cut.
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Despite the serious situation, Alexys Benito, governor of Vichada, assured that until now, “I contacted Minister Alejandro Guevara and he told me that he was going to review, but “No official from the Ministry of Mines or the Government has called us.”
That is why The governor urged the Government to allocate resources as soon as possible so that service can be restored.
For its part, through a statement and following a Unified Command Post, Electro Vichada confirmed that, “our energy supplier REFOENERGY Bita SAS ESP has had to suspend biomass-based energy generation due to lack of resources” and that “our fuel supplier TERPEL will not generate a supply contract or dispatch fuel to the electrification company until it receives the pending payment of the resources from the Ministry of Finance.”
The situation is even more complicated because the subsidies granted to users to compensate for rate differences with the national interconnected system represent more than 50% of the energy billed to the most vulnerable strata in the area.
That is, if these subsidies are not provided immediately, it is likely that power outages will continue to be scheduled intermittently.
Consequently, “Electrovichada makes an urgent call to all parties involved, including the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of Finance, REFOENERGY Bita SAS ESP and TERPELso that the transfers of subsidies approved several months ago are made effective.
For now, There is no statement from the National Government regarding this energy crisis that the department of Vichada is going through..
Source: Integrated Information System
