Ecuadorian President announces electricity subsidy, analysts say it is proselytism

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced Monday that the state would subsidize electricity consumption of up to 180 kilowatts for three months, despite the fact that the country is experiencing its worst drought in decades and is experiencing a generation deficit, which analysts interpreted as an act of proselytism on his path to re-election.

In a radio and television broadcast, the president assured that the bills for December, January and February “will be completely free for Ecuadorian families” and said that this has been possible after having “put public finances in order.”

The bill for consumption of up to 180 kilowatts is equivalent to an average of 20 dollars per month, according to the rates of the National Electricity Corporation.

Noboa assumed power in November last year and has expressed his intention to seek re-election in the elections of February 2025.

According to the Ministry of Energy, Ecuador is experiencing the worst drought in the last half century after severe and consecutive dry seasons that have caused power rationing of up to 12 hours a day throughout the country at the end of last year and beginning of this year.

The president of the College of Electrical Engineers, Marco Acuña, told The Associated Press that “this is a more political than technical decision, because it is not aimed at reducing the deficit or avoiding what we are seeing coming, rationing.”

He said that the beneficiaries of the presidential decision could total around three million users and recalled that the country has a deficit of more than 1,000 megawatts because the last governments did not invest in new generation projects or in the maintenance of the hydroelectric and thermal park.

Noboa is on a preliminary list of 16 presidential candidates who plan to run in next year’s general elections and who must register their candidacies by October 2.

Although the formal campaign has not yet begun, according to polls, those leading in voting intention are Noboa and former presidential candidates Luisa González of the Citizen Revolution party —of former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017)— and Jan Topic, of the center-right political party SUMA.

Political consultant and professor at Andean University Gustavo Isch told AP that the measure announced by Noboa seeks to “win the sympathies of the people during the campaign season.”

Noboa took over in November and will govern until May of next year to complete the mandate of previous president Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023), who left power early after dissolving the Assembly when it sought to impeach him.

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