ICE Wastes Generating Capacity of Private Generators
As Monday rolls in, so will the restart of rotating power outages, as the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), struggles through an energy crisis in the country that many say is the fault of ICE for poor management and its myopic policies.

The business sector is calling for the expansion of private contracts to generate electricity, saying that ICE does not take advantage of at least 135 megawatts of electrical energy that could be contributed by private generators.

Currently, private enterprise, known as co-generators, supply to the national electrical system 180 megawatts or a little more than 9% of the total electrical energy generated.

However, if Ley 7200 allows the co-generators to produce up to 15%, which translates to more than 315 megawatts of power, that, according to Mario Alvarado, executive director of the Asociación de Cogeneradores Privados (Acope), if ICE would have taken advantage of this resource, the country would now not be in the middle of an energy crisis.

Additionally, Alvarado, says that another 10 to 12 megawatts of energy could be added to the network if the expired contracts for the six plants now under lock would have been renewed and others being used to full capacity.

Alvarado explained that the majority of the closed plants produce hydro-eletrical energy and would not be a great help today but can contribute greatly during the rainy season.

The use of those plants would permit ICE reduce the load on its hydro-electric generators and allow it to regain water levels in its reservoirs.

Alvarado added that many of the co-generating contracts are about to expire and this could mean even less energy available if those plants now operating go off line. The Acope director said that 14 such contracts are set to expire in the next two years, cutting the lights on some 100 megawatts of electrical energy.

The Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos (Aresep) - regulating authority - has been warning since 2005 the country could fall into an energy shortage if the private contracts and concessions are left to expire.

For his part, the president of ICE, Pedro Pablo Quirós, says he is not an enemy of the private generators.

However, they should sell their energy at a reasonable price and not at four or five times above their cost, said Quirós, who has come under heavy criticism for the problems of ICE not being able to provide sufficient power to meet the demand.

"I do not want that ICE is forced to buy at a very high price", assured Quirós.

Alvarado counters that if the private companies and ICE sit down to renegotiate the prices, he is sure that they can be lowered. ICE currently is paying us$0.07 for each kilowatt hour (KWh) generated by the private companies.

The private companies say that that amount is between two and five times less that the cost of electricity by sources ICE includes in its contingency plan. Alvarado gave the example the cost of us$0.14 per KWh for energy produced by two generating plants rented from Grupo Pujo.