On Wednesday, the Government began the process of terminating the concession of the electricity distribution company Enel due to the prolonged power outages that have already lasted for a week after the passage of the frontal system that still leaves thousands of customers without electricity.
A similar scenario of thousands of customers without electricity is faced by the General Electricity Company (CGE) in O’Higgins and Maule, a Chinese company with which the same procedure was not adopted and was charged with violating the rules for restoring supply, according to a press release from the Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels (SEC).
“The investigation that began as soon as the first power outages occurred on the night of Thursday, August 1, led to the technical and legal conviction that CGE was responsible for the delay in restoring power to its customers in 21 municipalities in the Metropolitan Region and 16 in the O’Higgins Region, confirming the existence of almost 2,500 homes that had been without power for more than 72 hours,” the SEC said in a press release sent on Thursday night.
This information was confirmed this Friday by the regional director of SEC, Felipe Lerzundi, at a regional technical meeting where the prolonged power outage was once again addressed, a meeting where the Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow, and the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, connected online.
“Two charges have been filed against the electricity company: one for lack of maintenance of the safety strip, which is maintenance for pruning, and another for delay in the restoration times. And, of course, other charges have not been ruled out for other non-compliances that are part of the procedures, of the investigations that the Superintendency is carrying out in the O’Higgins region,” said Lerzundi, who called on the community to make their complaints via SEC and on the CGE website.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Delegate of O’Higgins, Fabio López, reported that “the number of customers still without electricity has been reduced to 3,100, and the company CGE has committed to removing them within the next 24 hours.” He made these statements on Friday afternoon.
Regarding the clients who are still without supply, the regional minister for Energy, Claudio Martínez, said that “the communes that were most affected have been recovering supply thanks to the increase in crews, as we had requested since Friday itself.” Martínez also commented that “We are clear that the delivery of information from the CGE was not optimal, nor real, and that is why we were checking, point by point, place by place, together with the Superintendency, if the crews were where they said they were. It is that clear. Yesterday, we were able to confirm that the majority of these crews were in place, which was not the case at first.”
“THE COMPANY WILL ADVANCE PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION”
While the deputy director of the CGE Group, Francisco Jaramillo, explained, “We have a commitment with the delegate to finish the work tomorrow (Saturday) and we are making efforts to achieve this and hopefully we can do it in a few hours. The company has arranged for a large contingent in the region. Today we have about 400 teams, with more than 1,200 people, concentrated mainly in the province of Cachapoal, in the communes of Rancagua, Rengo and Requínoa, to restore the supply. We are also finishing repairing the medium and low voltage network.”
Regarding compensation, Jaramillo stressed that “the company has already said a couple of days ago that in coordination with the ministerial authority it will advance the payment of legal compensation. These compensations are generally made with a delay of 60 days. This will be advanced and in the next few days we will be notified when they will be paid and will be reflected in the electricity bill and account.”
Regarding other compensations, he said that there are amounts close to $34,000 for people who cannot prove damages, but who have them. “For example, a family that lost their food and cannot prove it with a receipt, will be compensated with $34,000 as a minimum. If the person says they have major damages to food, medicine, with proof of this, the company will agree. Also for small businesses and groceries.”
Deputy Natalia Romero:
“The decision to start this process with only one company demonstrates the centralist outlook that the Government continues to have”
Regarding the issue, Deputy Natalia Romero said: “It is very important that the solutions offered by the Government do not end up being even worse than the disease itself. We all understand the serious situation that thousands of families in our country and also in the region are going through, where many sectors and neighborhoods are completing a week without electricity. But we must take into account what the scope of terminating an electricity concession is and whether or not the State, which is probably the one that will have to assume this task for a time, is capable of doing so.”
He added: “Moreover, the decision to start this process with only one company in particular, in this case from Santiago, demonstrates the absolutely centralist view that the Government continues to have. Today, a week after the storm, there are still almost two thousand people in O’Higgins without electricity, and in other regions the situation is very similar or even worse.
Senator Juan Luis Castro:
“I do not rule out that, if sufficient merits are produced, the CGE company may also be affected. to similar situations”
For his part, Senator Juan Luis Castro indicated that no measure regarding sanctions for the General Electricity Company is ruled out. “Nothing is ruled out, because charges have already been filed against CGE. Remember that there are 16 communes in O’Higgins where there were serious breaches. These charges were announced yesterday and we are facing a very big dilemma, because today the seriousness of the fault in our region is immeasurably great due to the negligence and apathy of the regulatory authorities. I want to get to the bottom of this matter. It cannot be that on day one I had to go to the CGE where they were asking for explanations of what was happening with the cuts, instead of it being the other way around. It is the CGE that I would have liked to see in the state offices.”
The parliamentarian added that “This is not a request or a plea for them to please comply. I think it is good that in the case of Enel a process of expiration is initiated and I do not rule out that, if sufficient merits are produced, the company CGE could also be affected eventually by similar situations. Today the most flagrant is Enel, but that does not minimize the damage that CGE has caused, which to date has about 2 people without electricity a week after the episodes.”
Senator Alejandra Sepúlveda:
“The conditions of review and standard must be the same as those that will be used with Enel and CGE”
The senator for O’Higgins, Alejandra Sepúlveda, criticized the actions of the electricity company that operates in O’Higgins. “The complications we have had with CGE have been very serious. The number of families and homes without electricity, but we are also the second region with the largest number of rural drinking water systems with 223 APRs, a little less than half of the region has this system that works with electricity and without electricity, there is no water either.”
He added that “Here the government has to evaluate what it is doing with Enel and see if the conditions also exist from a contractual point of view with CGE. What has happened is unacceptable, because the situation could have been prevented, given that the complications of the winds that occurred were known a week in advance. I think that the conditions of review and standard have to be the same as those that will be used with Enel and CGE,” he stressed.
Deputy Raul Soto:
“I find it inexplicable that the same decision is not taken with CGE”
Independent deputies and PPD representatives sent a letter to the SEC to terminate the services of Enel and CGE, the main energy distribution companies, due to delays in restoring service.
Deputy Raúl Soto (PPD), who heads the initiative, said: “We have been here for 7 days and there are still thousands of families without electricity, families and SMEs that have lost everything, this cannot go unpunished. Maximum sanctions for companies and compensation proportional to the damage for those affected.”
He added, “On Wednesday, as promised, we submitted a letter to the Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels (SEC) to terminate the contracts of ENEL and CGE due to the constant power outages, the excessive replacement periods and the possible lack of transparency towards the respective authorities. The service is terrible and the breaches are serious and repeated.”
The parliamentarian stressed: “I value President Boric’s decision to revoke the concession in the case of ENEL, but it seems inexplicable to me that the same decision has not been taken with CGE, if the CGE has been just as inefficient, just as negligent, even more so than ENEL. Given the same reason, there should be the same disposition and the same measure.”
He concluded by saying, “We will insist on maximum sanctions for CGE, which has also been negligent and inefficient and therefore deserves the same treatment, the termination of the concession just like ENEL.”
#customers #power #OHiggins #CGE #promised #restore #hours
