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dam-l (Fwd) LS: Frei Wrestles with Energy Issue
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 10:34:37 -0700
From: Monti Aguirre <monti@irn.org>
Subject: LS: Frei Wrestles with Energy Issue
To: irn-biobio@apc.org
***
CHIP NEWS
****
Date: April 23, 1999
Subject: Frei Wrestles with Energy Issue
Sources: La Nacion; La Tercera
****
FREI WRESTLES WITH ENERGY ISSUE
President Eduardo Frei, back in Chile after an nine-
day
working trip to Europe, held urgent meetings
Thursday with
cabinet members to address the nation's continuing
energy
shortage. A special presidential address outlining
new
government measures to deal with the issue is
expected this
weekend or early next week.
Rationing was first implemented for a two-week
period in
November, and a new round of rationing, marked by
blackouts of up to two hours a day in alternating
sectors of
Santiago and much of the rest of Chile, has been in
effect
since late March. Authorities say the blackouts could
last
through June, depending on rain.
Criticism is aimed at both energy suppliers, for failing
to
invest in alternative energy production, and at
government
officials, for relegating the issue to the back burner
for too
long a period.
Senate president and presidential aspirant Andres
Zaldivar
suggested Thursday that Congress could give Frei
"extraordinary powers" within 48 hours to deal with
the
issue, suggesting that provisional thermal energy
generators
be brought to Chile in the short term, and that Chile's
power
grid be integrated with Argentina's in the mid to long-
term.
Zaldivar, a Christian Democrat (PDC), also proposed
new
legislation regulating vertical integration of energy
companies, an apparent allusion to Endesa Spain's
imminent acquisition of power generating company
Endesa
Chile, and harshly criticized Ricardo Lagos for ceding
water
rights to Endesa Chile during his tenure as Public
Works
Minister. Zaldivar and Lagos face-off May 30 in a
presidential
primary held by the parties of the governing
Concertacion
alliance.
Party for Democracy (PPD) Sen. Sergio Bitar earlier
this
week called on Congress to enact legislation to give
the
government more authority over matters related to
energy
distribution and generation - responsibilities currently
in the
hands of the private sector - and to increase fines
and
sanctions power companies may face.
Bitar, whose PPD is part of the governing
Concertacion
coalition and was founded by presidential candidate
Lagos,
also said the private-sector body that oversees power
distribution matters, the CDEC, ought to be turned
over to
government control, or at least have public-sector
representation because it currently serves only the
power
companies' interests. Bitar also called for an
increase in the
fines power companies face to as much as US$3
million,
compared to the current maximum of US$26,000.
The
measures suggested by Bitar are believed to be
similar to
those that Frei is expected to announce.
PDC attorney Ramon Briones, a long-time critic of
the
nation's energy-sector regulatory system, blamed the
power
shortage on the lack of significant competition in the
power-generation market, which is dominated by
Endesa
Chile and Gener, and the failure of lawmakers and
the public
to bring political pressure on the industry.
Former Central Bank economist Marcel Claude,
currently
the director of the Terram Foundation, charged that
Chile's
power companies prefer to pay the relatively light
fines
associated with the power shortages rather than
invest in
high cost thermal power.
Chile's energy sector was privatized during the
Pinochet
government under conditions that many critics say
were
extremely favorable to purchasers - all Pinochet
government
supporters.
Despite all the criticism, public response to the
situation has
been relatively tame until late this week. The
municipality of
Nunoa created a legal team to facilitate citizen
complaints
against the power companies for losses and
inconvenience
caused by the power shortages and more than 130
complaints were filed Thursday.
More are expected to follow.
In related developments, a new Siemens rotor for the
Nehuenco thermoelectric generator arrived in Chile
mid-week
from Germany, sped up by Frei's personal
intervention during
his visit to Germany this past week. The device will
allow the
generator to enter back into operation sooner than
expected,
but it won't resolve the nation's energy woes, officials
say.
*The End*
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Monti Aguirre
Latin American Campaigns
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA. 94703 USA
Phone: 510 . 848.11.55 and 707 . 591 .91.49
Fax: 510 . 848.10.08
e-mail: monti @irn.org
http://www.irn.org
Dianne Murray, Coordinator/Webmistress
Dam-Reservoir Working Group; Ottawa, Canada
Dam-Reservoir Impacts and Information Archive
http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/dams