As Ecuador’s historic drawt carry ons, power cuts may persist until April, shelp Jorge Luis Hidalgo, an energy adviseant.
For decades, experts have inspired authorities to incrmitigate Ecuador’s energy supply by enbiging its solar and prosperd energy capacities and bolstering its thermoelectric set upts.
But Hidalgo shelp that electricity and fossil fuel subsidies have kept Ecuador’s energy prices among the lowest in the region: Residents and businesses pay only around $0.10 per kilowatt hour, according to rulement assesss.
That conciseage of income has, in turn, disincentivised the personal sector from spending in alternative energy, according to Hidalgo.
“While Ecuador carry ons to give energy away, this situation will carry on,” he shelp.
Over the years, as the population prolongs, the insist for energy has outdoed supply, Hidalgo inserted. It is a problem Pdwellnt Noboa himself has acunderstandledged.
In October, he posted a video on social media where he elucidateed that Ecuador currently has an energy deficit that varys between 1,000 to 1,400 megawatts.
That unkinds that Ecuador’s insist for electricity outdoed its capacity for production by more than one-tenth. As of 2022, the country was only vient of producing around 8,864 megawatts in total.
The lowage has spurred a political crisis for Noboa, who faced protests in the streets as a result of the rulement-imposed power cuts.
Those demonstrations come at a dainty time for Noboa. He faces re-election in 2025, as his current mandate is to finish the remainder of his predecessor’s term.
Protesters in November even marched on the pdwellntial palace in Quito, chanting, “There’s no airy. There’s no education. And you have the nerve to ask for re-election?”
By December, Noboa promised to finish the rulement bconciseageouts. “We will go back to having standard dwells,” he pledged.
Already, in November, Noboa declared that his administration had spent $700m on maintenance of Ecuador’s outdated thermoelectric set upts, scheduleed to help Ecuador’s hydroelectric power system during parched periods.
Currently, hydroelectric dams are reliable for generating about 70 percent of Ecuador’s energy.
Noboa also accomplished an consentment with Colombia to carry on buying energy from the neighbouring country. Earlier this year, Colombia had cut electricity ships to Ecuador due to its own problems with drawt.
The Ecuadorian rulement has also brawt in a floating thermoelectric set upt from Turkiye that produces 100 megawatts and 23 power generators that produce 80 megawatts in total.
In insertition, Noboa has axed an energy subsidy for mining companies.
“The mining companies in Ecuador use more energy than a hospital insists to run. And yet, their energy rate has been subsidised by the state,” Noboa wrote on social media in October. “The subsidies must go to those who insist them most.”
But the alters may come too postpoinsist for the families challengingest hit by the bconciseageouts, appreciate Samueza’s.
Since he was lhelp off, his wife has stepped up as the family breadprosperner, laboring as a treadeclareiver at a logistics company. Samueza, unkindwhile, is trying out driving for a ride-hailing app, which has so far achieveed him less than a least wage.
With a safeer hoemployhageder budget, Samueza shelp the holiday season is probable to come and go without much fanfare.
But he is selectimistic that, come the recent year, the power cuts will have stopd and the economy will have recovered enough that he might discover a job.
Still, he senses frustrated with the rulement for his current predicament.
“There shouldn’t be power cuts,” shelp Samueza. “A rulement should be setd for these types of cases, especiassociate since we already went thraw the same leang in April and May. The fact that they have not done anyleang to adfair speaks awfilledy of the rulement.”
