Government of Ecuador increases power cuts from 8 to 14 hours a day and the crisis worsens

( Spanish) – The energy situation in Ecuador is worsening and the Minister in charge of Energy and Mines, Inés Manzano, announced this Thursday night that electricity service cuts will increase from 8 to 14 hours a day despite the fact that on October 17 President Daniel Noboa offered in a message to the country that they would be reduced to 8, 6 and 4 hours a day gradually.

“We have made the painful but responsible decision to modify the rationing plan, increasing it from 8 to 14 hours a day and that will have an evaluation on Sunday,” the minister said in a message on the official X account of the Ministry of Energy.

Manzano said that one of the problems is the depressed flows in two of the country’s main hydroelectric plants, Mazar and Coca Codo-Sinclair. He reiterated that the Government is trying to recover the country’s generating park and acquire new energy sources.

“We understand the discomfort that this announcement may cause in your personal life and the effects on your professional life,” Manzano added.

Minister Manzano’s announcement came hours after a meeting of the Permanent Advisory Committee on electrical energy made up of representatives of the public and private sectors.

The Government of Daniel Noboa faces the energy crisis amid citizen discontent, criticism from the business sector, changes in educational and work schedules, economic losses and impact on vulnerable groups.

Several affected people have indicated to that President Noboa should have taken effective and quick measures as soon as he assumed power in November 2023, since the difficult electricity generation situation reported by the country was public since the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology ( INAMHI) predicted a severe drought in 2024 due to the El Niño phenomenon.

On September 7, the complex energy situation in Ecuador worsened after the country faced a new surprise blackout that left a good part of the country’s provinces without electricity service. The incident was attributed by the Ministry of Energy to a failure in a substation.

However, a few days later the Government ordered new days of scheduled blackouts starting on September 18 to carry out maintenance on the system. The situation subsequently worsened and the Government announced that the blackouts would extend over the next few weeks due to the drought, the decrease in hydroelectric reservoirs and the deterioration of several power plants, among other aspects. Added to that was that Colombia stopped selling energy to Ecuador.

Power outages began a month and a half ago in the South American country and energy authorities have indicated that they will continue without determining an official end date.

The blackouts began with 8 hours a day, and shortly after increased to 12 hours a day, depending on the cities and neighborhoods. Then, the Government standardized blackouts up to 10 hours a day, while last week, President Noboa offered a weekly reduction of 8, 6 and 4 hours a day gradually. An offer that could not be fulfilled after this Thursday’s announcement to increase blackouts to 14 hours a day.