According to the president, his announcement to reduce energy rationing and then having to increase it to 14 hours a day was not a populist measure.

President Daniel Noboa says his announcement to reduce power rationing and then increase it to 14 hours a day was not a populist measure.

He explained in an interview held tonight on TC Television that the current scenario was not the one that was predicted, but rather the one that had a 10% probability.

There was "a wind that was not projected and that unfortunately played against us. It was not a populist measure" to decide to reduce the blackouts by two hours a week, but it was done so that people could plan ahead.

And regarding the effect of the power cuts on the population, he said that he reads the information minute by minute to have the minimum number of hours possible, because he knows that people are bothered by this situation. And that is why he has tried to reduce the cuts. “We have done it with the least impact on people,” while saying that there are technicians who have recommended fifteen hours of rationing. In addition, he confirmed that the subsidy for consumption of 180 kilowatts per family will be applied for four months.

“I understand that people are upset because it affects everyone’s routine,” and although the problem will not be resolved today, he said it will be as soon as possible. The probability is that “there should be no more blackouts in December,” with everything that is being done.

Given the critical levels of the Mazar reservoir, he said that last April, when there were also rationing, it was five metres lower.

Measures taken

Noboa defended what his government has done to confront this energy crisis, such as incorporating 435 megawatts into the national electrical system and signing licenses for more than 400 MW of private energy.

He referred to the fact that there were questions about the barges and now “the mourners” of this type of thermal generation have come out, and that “right now all the candidates are experts and say they have the solution and when they are asked what the solution is, it is the same thing that we are doing.”

The vision of his administration is to have adequate diversification in the sources of electricity generation and for industries to resort to self-generation. In this line is the announcement made a few days ago to review the rates paid by mining companies, which the Government considers a subsidy.

He denied that projects from other governments had been set aside and cited as an example Toachi Pilatón, which had been delayed and which was moved forward during his administration and the first of three turbines will begin operating at the end of November or beginning of December.