Ecuadorians only have electricity in their homes and businesses for three hours a day
Originally published on Global Voices
Since mid-September 2024, Ecuador has been experiencing power outages, up to 14 hours per day, across its entire territory.
Electricity, according to the country's constitution, is a public service that must be guaranteed by the State. It is essential for the daily life of Ecuadorians. When this service is paralyzed, as it is now, it directly affects consumers — that is, Ecuador's population of 17 million.
There are numerous stories of the consequences of Ecuador's power outages. For example, when power outages occur in the afternoon and evening, the traffic lights are turned off and the streets are in absolute darkness, making it dangerous and difficult for pedestrians to walk on public roads. In the Belisario Quevedo sector in Quito, power outages occur from 10 am to 3 pm and from 5 pm to midnight.
In some cases, the power outages have led to unexpected costs. For instance, in an interview with Global Voices, Rómulo Frank shared that the motor of his refrigerator burned out due to the constant power outages. He had to assume the cost of USD 685.05 to fix the motor of an indispensable household appliance.
Likewise, on social networks, users write about their own experiences with the power outages. For example, Rodrigo Padilla lamented how unfair the power cuts are for children in that they are hindering their basic education.
In addition, numerous Ecuadorians complained about increased electricity bills, despite not using this service due to the outages. In other cases, they pay the same amount as in months when there were no power outages.
Furthermore, the closure of stores and the lack of sales in small businesses due to power outages are stifling small business owners and crippling the economy. The energy crisis has affected the business sector, both small and large enterprises, with millions of dollars of losses, according to the representative of the Chamber of Commerce of Quito, Mónica Heller.
The extreme wave of power outages began on April 16, one week before the popular consultation elections, which President Daniel Noboa won. Before this, power outages were common in the country, but usually limited to eight hours a day.
In a communication campaign, Noboa's government blamed the former Minister of Energy Andrea Arrobo for the blackouts. Naboa's team alleged she and her office let “the water run” and “opened the floodgates” of the Mazar hydroelectric plant located in the province of Cañar, leading to the eight-hour blackouts. For her part, Arrobo defended herself on her social networks, where she stated that she inherited “a sector in crisis as a result of six years of neglect.”
According to the Ecuadorian digital media organization La Defensa, chats between Arrobo and Noboa reveal that the Minister of Energy warned President Noboa that droughts and limited rainfall would affect the hydroelectric plants, which provide the majority of Ecuador's electricity. Most hydroelectric energy production depends on rainwater flow as the plants require a base amount of water to spin the turbines that generate electricity. Arrobo stressed to him that if the drought continued, the hydroelectric plants “will not hold up.”
These chats indicate that Noboa was aware of the looming energy crisis in April 2024. The former Minister of Energy Andrea Arrobo emphasized this in a letter sent to the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly in the midst of the impeachment process against her.
Then, from September 18th, 2024, blackouts increased from 8 to 14 hours a day throughout Ecuador. There is sectorized rationing in every province of Ecuador to this day.
After several weeks without any direct statements about the energy crisis, on October 18, President Noboa, accompanied by the Minister of Energy Inés Manzano and the Minister of Production Sonsoles García, sent a message to the nation offering to reduce the power outages to four hours. He did not explain how he was going to do so, since he made the decision based on “empathy.”
However, six days later, Manzano announced that the power cuts would remain at 14 hours “due to external factors such as drought,” a speech framed by the government as a justification for the rationing of electricity. Government officials claimed it is “the worst drought of the last 60 years,” a claim that specialist in environmental management Verónica Iñiguez disputed.
Although the lack of rainfall has affected energy generation in Ecuador, it is not the only energy production system available in the country; there are also projects such as thermoelectric, photovoltaic, and wind power to generate energy in times of drought.
Iñiguez insists “on the importance of diversifying the energy matrix and maintaining the infrastructure” that already exist in Ecuador. Investment must be guaranteed by the State, since global warming will become more critical every year.
For its part, Colombia stopped selling energy to Ecuador on September 30, 2024, due to the drought that Colombia also faces, but it has seemingly escaped the power outages. This leaves a gap of kilowatt hours uncovered, compared to the demand for electricity in Ecuador.
Following the April 2024 blackouts, the Government announced the contract for a USD 115 million barge that would generate 100 Megawatts of electricity as part of a plan to help deal with the low water levels of the last months of the year in 2024 and 2025. The barge is a long vessel used to transport oil derivatives or chemicals through the ocean or rivers. In the Ecuadorian case, officials hope it will be a floating power plant.
The barge named Emre Be belongs to the Turkish company Karpowership. It is stationed at the port of La Libertad in the province of Santa Elena, and its efficacy has been highly questioned due to the lack of transparency in its contracting. It arrived at the Ecuadorian port before the emergency bidding process began, which led to a complaint in the Attorney General's Office for alleged influence peddling against the Minister of Energy, Roberto Luque, three months into his tenure, as well as the Deputy Manager of CELEC, Fabián Calero, currently the Vice Minister of Electricity.
Observers are also questioning the barge choice because of its low production of contracted electricity (from 100 to 12 megawatts), which does not meet Ecuador's energy demands. President Noboa described those questioning the contracting of the Turkish barge as “barge widows.”
Finally, on the night of October 27, 2024, President Noboa gave a pre-recorded interview with journalist Rafael Cuesta on the public media outlet Tc Televisión. He admitted that the energy crisis is largely due to the lack of investment in the maintenance of the thermoelectric park of the previous governments (Moreno and Lasso).
Noboa affirmed that “he is investing in nuclear and solar energy” to solve the problem of the energy crisis. In addition, he offered to invest in thermoelectric and wind energy projects that already exist. He ended the interview by blaming the issue on previous governments for their lack of investment.
As this article is being written for Global Voices, the power outages continue for 14 hours a day.
