Before each storm, thousands of families suffer power outages. Meteorology announced that significant rains could occur again in the coming days, so the risk that the power supply will be interrupted again is very latent.
For this matter, analysts such as Ricardo Canese and Fabián Cáceres, explain what the authorities of the National Electricity Administration (ANDE) should do to solve the problem once and for all.
Ricardo Canese, parliamentarian and expert on energy issues, stated that the national electricity sector is rich, but it is impoverished.
“As it is, the sector generates US$700 million a year, but not a cent goes to the electrical system. It is used to cover the real estate tax that is not collected in the municipalities. Taxes are evaded because the communes receive royalties and fonacide”, he explained.
He argued that the electricity income goes to other destinations despite the fact that ANDE requires strong investments.
“All electrical systems in the world that work receive investments,” he said.
THE INFRASTRUCTURE
Fabián Cáceres, former ANDE technical manager, explained that the main problem is the infrastructure, since it does not match the quality that the client deserves and demands.
“Every time there are storms, situations arise where the electricity supply is out of service. This happens for several reasons, first of all, there are many power lines made up of bare cables that are placed between the branches. Then they come into contact with the trees causing short circuits. Also, we don’t have the system to replace damaged trunks,” he explained.
The expert explains that to provide ANDE with more infrastructure, investment is needed and for there to be investment, resources are needed.
“ANDE has been sustaining itself for years with rates that do not give it the necessary resources to make investments. ANDE’s charter explains that the rates must produce a profit between 8% and 10% of the investments and that is not really reflected in the rate. We have a political tariff to such an extent that the last readjustment produced in 2017 was produced 20 years after the last one, ”he commented.
Cáceres did not want to venture into giving his own figures, but recalled that studies carried out in 2017 reflected that the rate that each family pays for electricity consumption should increase by 65% so that it can receive the improvements it needs, but in that moment, it only established a readjustment of 20%.
“At this moment I suspect that ANDE must have its finances seriously compromised. We must remember that, during the pandemic, it had to subsidize part of the electricity consumption, ”he commented.
