ICE Assures No Blackouts For
This Summer
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) assures that it
has scrapped its plans for blackouts this summer. The statement came
after ICE's president, Pedro Pablo Quirós, met with the ministro de
la Presidencia, Rodrigo Arias.
"(Blackouts) are only a remote possibility", said Quirós.
The question of blackouts this summer came after the Autoridad
Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) - regulating authority
- rejected ICE's high rate increase, prompting ICE officials to make
public their blackout contingency plans.
ICE was seeking a 40% rate hike, while the Aresep approved only a
15% increase, which ICE is appealing.
Quirós assures that there will be no blackouts and met with minister
Arias to explain ICE's plans for electric generation for 2011.
Quirós said that he is positive that the Aresep will approve a
"reasonable" increase, an increase that is vital for the institution
to meet its financial demands for providing power to the country.
For his part, minister Arias said he respected ICE's decision on
electrical rates. The regulador general, Fernando Herrero, said
yesterday that the Aresep is working on evaluating ICE's costs.
During the announcement yesterday, Quirós also said that the
Cariblanco generating station that suffered major damage during the
January 8 earthquake could be back in operation in about three
months, but only at 50% capacity.
Following an assessment of the damage, ICE engineers had estimated
that the plant would be down for at least to the end of the year.
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