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LATIN AMERICA |
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Venezuela
Readies “Very Specific Measures” to Save
Energy
CARACAS – President Hugo Chavez said that
his government is preparing “very specific
measures” to save energy in Venezuela.
“We have to launch a campaign for saving
energy right now, we’re preparing the whole
campaign, we’re evaluating the situation,”
Chavez said late Thursday during a Cabinet
meeting aired live on state television.
The president gave no details about the
plan, or about when it will go into effect
or which energy sources will be involved.
He said that the level of Guri Dam, which
powers the biggest electricity plant in the
country, “has dropped ... 30 percent,
because it hardly rained last winter.”
“Besides that, the increase in consumption
continues to shoot up, a variable that does
not correspond to the real growth of the
population or of the economy. A good part of
that increase is because of waste,” the
president said.
Venezuela has been affected in the last 18
months by at least six major power outages,
the most recent in September, due to a
system that cannot keep up with the demand,
according to government officials.
Venezuela’s electricity service has been
entirely in the hands of the state since
February 2007, when Electricidad de Caracas,
which supplies almost the entire capital
city and surrounding areas, and another
three small regional electric companies were
nationalized by the Chavez government.
The opposition party Un Nuevo Tiempo accused
the government of managing the electric
service in a “negligent” manner, with the
argument that in the last 10 years it has
announced the construction of “29 plants for
the distribution of electricity and has only
built five, and these are operating at only
half their capacity.”
Chavez announced on Aug. 16 the approval of
$1.28 billion for the development of
electricity works and projects, as well as
for paying the wages of workers in the
sector.
In May, the Venezuelan president said that
his government planned to invest some $20
billion over the next five years to increase
the electricity supply by 10,000 MW. EFE |
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