The Administration of Gabriel Boric also filed charges against the distribution company CGE for violation of supply replacement regulations.
Chilean Energy Minister Diego Pardow confirmed a few minutes ago that the Government has initiated the process of terminating Enel's concession. This decision responds to President Gabriel Boric's request to the Minister to review this termination.
"This administrative process has several stages. The first stage is a request that acts as an ultimatum, where service conditions are set that must be met within a certain period of time," the Minister explained.
The ultimatum states that Enel must comply with the new recovery plan presented, which contemplates the connection of 20,000 customers during the day tomorrow, Thursday. This plan will be segmented into 24-hour periods, and if 20,000 customers are not connected during the day, the procedure will advance to its next administrative phase, known as the adversarial phase.
“The two previous recovery plans have not been met, there cannot be a third time. This plan is going to be segmented into 24-hour periods and if there are not 20,000 customers connected during the 24 hours tomorrow, this procedure will move to its next administrative phase, which is the adversarial phase,” Pardow added.
Charges against CGE company
The minister also reported that the Government has filed charges against the distribution company CGE for violating the rules for restoring supply. “CGE has some of the municipalities in the Metropolitan Region affected and, in particular, by the situation in O'Higgins, where the slow pace of customer recovery is also a cause for extreme concern,” he concluded.
Regarding the statement issued by Enel during the day, Pardow said that the company did not take responsibility for the call made earlier by President Boric.
“Our concern is how can we ask Chilean consumers to pay their electricity bills when the electricity distribution service has been not only incompetent, but indolent. So, how can we ask our country's customers who pay their bills every day, who regularly take care of their obligations, to face this situation when the companies have clearly failed to do their part of this tacit agreement that we citizens have with the companies,” he said.
Meeting at Senapred due to prolonged power outages
Following the meeting held at the offices of Senapred, attended by the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, and undersecretaries from various ministries, the formal start of this process was announced. Pardow stressed the importance of meeting the established deadlines to prevent the procedure from moving on to more severe phases.
The process of termination initiated by the Government aims to ensure that electricity distribution companies comply with their obligations and provide adequate service to citizens. The connection of 20,000 customers in 24 hours is only the first step of a broader recovery plan that must be executed with precision and speed.
