The announcement comes just hours after President Daniel Noboa asked the interim Minister of Energy, Inés Manzano, and the Energy Advisory Committee to take immediate decisions to ensure the preservation and operation of the Mazar hydroelectric plant.
Ecuador will have power outages of up to 14 hours a day. The news was announced by the Minister of Energy in charge, Inés Manzano, on the evening of Thursday, October 24, 2024.
The official appeared in a video explaining the reasons for this decision. According to Manzano, the Government has made the “painful” decision to modify the rationing plan, increasing it from 8 to 14 hours a day. The measure will be evaluated on Sunday, October 27.
"We made this difficult decision based on the difficult climate situation. All of South America is facing an unprecedented drought and Ecuador is no exception," he said.
In the message, the head of the Energy Portfolio also indicated that “in the context of this serious electricity crisis, the management of this crisis has two parts: the temporary one with extreme measures due to extreme and unpredictable weather. At the same time, we are working on the recovery of our generating park and on the purchase of new generation,” she said.
In her explanation, Minister Manzano asserted that the main problem is the depressed flow rates at historical levels. She specifically referred to the case of the Masar and Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plants.
“We understand the discomfort that this announcement may cause in your personal life and also the effects on your professional life, but at the same time it is important that you know that it is a transparent and responsible decision in this moment that the country is experiencing,” he said.
The government's announcement comes just hours after President Daniel Noboa asked Manzano and the Energy Advisory Committee to take immediate decisions to ensure the preservation and operation of the Mazar hydroelectric plant.
In fact, this body held its first meeting on the afternoon of October 24 in Quito. There, Manzano met with representatives from the public and private sectors. The meeting, according to the Ministry of Energy, had the purpose of drawing up a strategic roadmap aimed at strengthening the governance of the energy sector.
Minister Manzano later called for calm and promised that the situation in Ecuador's energy sector would change in the medium term.
“I will keep my promise that by the beginning of December we will have fewer or zero blackouts,” the minister said on Friday, October 25, on Teleamazonas , where she made similar statements on October 14.
The official explained that she was referring to two hours of power cuts when she said she hoped they would be “minimal.”
Regarding the rescheduling of power outage times, he said that this is a responsible and transparent announcement, because there is currently an unprecedented crisis, “what we are experiencing has never been experienced before in the country.”
On the other hand, Manzano indicated that this Friday, at 10:00, he will have a meeting with his counterpart from Colombia, Andrés Camacho.
The official said that it was not a political issue when the reduction of eight, six and four hours was announced.
