Ecuador will increase electricity cuts from eight to 14 hours a day starting this Friday due to the worst drought it faces in six decades, announced the Minister in charge of Energy and Mines, Inés Manzano.
Due to the drought, which this year has reduced the reservoirs of the hydroelectric plants that cover 70% of the national energy demand to historic lows, the country has imposed seasonal rationing of up to 13 hours a day like those last April.
On Monday, the current month-long phase of cuts was reduced from ten to eight hours a day and was to be readjusted to six hours from next Monday to four hours in the first week of November.
“We face a dynamic and unprecedented crisis that forces us to adapt to changing scenarios,” said Manzano. “We made this tough decision based on the difficult climate situation.”
«All of South America faces an unprecedented drought and Ecuador is no exception. Several countries have electricity outages and we have all seen with amazement the images of a dry Amazon River,” he noted.
Ecuador, with 17 million inhabitants, needs about 4,600 MW and faced a deficit of 1,600 MW.
The business union maintains that losses due to blackouts amount to 12 million dollars for each hour of outage.
#Ecuador #extends #electricity #cuts #hours #day #Diario #Página
