Hardware chains now have a lot of stock, some equipment from pre-sales made since October began to arrive in the last days of December.
With discount signs, sales and various models and brands, the offer of electricity generators and other rechargeable items in Ecuador ends in 2024. The environment has changed and in hardware chains, importers and shopping centers you no longer see people looking for these devices to supply themselves with energy or to have a light bulb to light their home while there were power outages, which for the residential sector ended on December 19.
Now, unlike the shortage of these devices that occurred between the end of September and the beginning of December, there is an oversupply on the market that is looking to get rid of stock with discounts or simply waiting for an opportunity to reactivate demand, as happened in recent months with the scheduled power cuts.
"We have the ones on display and more in stock , but we don't know if the blackouts will return in January," says María Cevallos, a saleswoman at a small hardware store located on Rumichaca Street in downtown Guayaquil.
In the store, the generators are piled up at the entrance of the premises, but customers come looking for other products and are no longer interested in these devices.
At Ferretería León, a few meters away, the shop manager says he only has three generators available on display, “but people no longer ask about these machines.” He no longer has any more in stock and says that customer interest has dropped to zero since the blackouts ended.
In this business, the available generators are 6,000 and 8,000 watts and are sold at $949 and $1,056, respectively. In another hardware chain, Impromafe, in the same sector, they confirm that the demand for generators has completely dropped since December 19. As in the other stores, the generators are placed at the entrance of the establishment. They have 5 kilowatts at $620, 6,500 watts at $998, 8,000 watts at $1,206, and 9,000 watts at $1,407. All prices include value added tax (VAT).
This, despite the fact that these devices are purchased without VAT until December 31, 2024, in accordance with Decree 411 that President Daniel Noboa issued on October 3, in which he established that electric generators will have a 0% VAT rate for the import and acquisition of these devices until this date.
The decree includes electric generators in all their forms and ranges, their parts and pieces.
In another hardware chain, where generators are also sold with 15% VAT, they explain that this merchandise is not included in the presidential decree due to import times.
In that chain, Carlos García, a worker at the place, points out that the demand for generators has dropped by 80% in the last two weeks, but that they continue to be imported. Yesterday, for example, they received a 13,500-watt unit from the Porten brand, but it still did not have a retail price. According to García, although the demand has dropped, companies in some niches, such as construction, continue to ask and very sporadically bring these units to work.
He also says that there are still customers who want to be insured with a generator in case the blackouts return in 2025.
At Novicompu, on Francisco de Orellana Avenue, for example, they have a large number of generators and Power Stations, items that were in short supply in recent months. Advisor Bryan Plúa says that although demand has dropped, many people continue to ask about these devices. He also points out that they have been delivering devices that were pre-sold since last October and that began to arrive in the last days of December.
On the other hand, importers already have in stock products that were also in high demand over the past four months, such as rechargeable lights and fans, solar lamps and others, although there has been little demand in recent days, admits a saleswoman in these businesses.
