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“There is also a reality here. This process needs pedagogy every day. This does not mean that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow the difficulties will be gone. Two new operators are coming to invest, transform and help citizens, and pedagogy must be oriented towards (this) also collaborating and contributing in this process ”.
With this precision from President Iván Duque, the Government yesterday presented the companies Afinia and Air-e as operators of the electric power service in the seven departments of the Caribbean region, which receive the markets with the worst indicators in terms of energy losses and quality of service, after the Electricaribe era.
(In context: Government delivered keys to new electricity operators on the Coast)
Handing over the keys to the firms marks enormous challenges in variables such as collection, subnormality and fraud, phenomena that still persist.
And, precisely to initiate the change of course, yesterday in Barranquilla and Cartagena commitments were signed for the celebration of management programs with both operators.
Based on this, the Superintendency of Public Services will strictly monitor compliance with the obligations agreed between the Government and Afinia (Empresas Públicas de Medellín-EPM) and Air-e (Consorcio Energético de la Costa, made up of the Energy Company de Pereira and Latin American Corp). According to the watchdog, this is the end of the Electricaribe operation, which was intervened in November 2016, to make way for an investment schedule and reestablish the confidence of more than 10 million inhabitants of this region.
(We recommend: This is how the last days of Electricaribe are: the end of a nightmare)
According to the entity, with the formalization of the process and the reception of the operation, the new operators assumed two main commitments.
The first is employer substitution to guarantee job stability and protection of workers linked to Electricaribe, in application of the Substantive Labor Code
The second is the execution of investments for at least 5.8 billion pesos in five years, in the infrastructure and areas of operation, a figure that in a period of 10 years will exceed 10 billion pesos, according to Duque.
Investment monitoring
The Superintendency of Residential Public Services promised to monitor compliance with the investment plan, which in the case of Afinia, the Medellín Public Companies company in charge of the operation in Bolívar, Sucre, Córdoba and Cesar, will add 3.2 billion of pesos.
In the case of Air-e, responsible for the operation in Atlántico, Magdalena and La Guajira, it will be 2.6 billion pesos.
The Superservices will continuously monitor the progress of the works, as well as the improvement of the indicators of average duration of interruptions (Saifi) and number of interruptions (Saifi).
“Over the next five years, eight types of indicators and sub-indicators will be controlled for a total of 27 items related to investments, and the quality, continuity and coverage of the service,” Superservicios indicated.
In the midst of the secrecy about the financial details of the transaction closing contract with each operator, Javier Lastra, former controller of Electricaribe, drew attention because after the delivery of the keys the Government, through a decree established in the economic emergency ( Decree 809 of June 4), will lend money to new firms to make other guarantees.
Other sources in the electricity market indicated that the scheme would be an endorsement by the Nation for these operations and energy purchases, but the Vice Minister of Finance, Juan Alberto Londoño, ruled out any of these possibilities.
“The only alternative financing mechanism, but in a generalized way for all energy companies, is the banking subsidy scheme. The National Government will not finance or guarantee the new companies, ”said the official.
Since November 2016, the Superservices Business Fund has allocated 4.56 trillion pesos to Electricaribe in credits for its operation (4.1 trillion and credits for power purchase guarantees for 460,000 million pesos.
In addition, the Nation granted resources for investment, via Conpes, amounting to 860,000 million pesos. For the start-up of operations in the first phase, which will be firm from October 1, Afinia and Air-e will carry out joint cross-cutting tasks through the Shared Services Center, as explained by Superservices.
This company was established by the two operators to attend to commercial and billing issues, among others.
Its existence is contemplated for two years, a term that may be shorter depending on the agility with which each operator undertakes these activities independently.
Requests, complaints, claims and all ongoing procedures filed by users with Electricaribe will be assumed by the new companies and, parallel to the entry into service of the new network operators, Electricaribe’s intervention process will continue with the procedures for law for its liquidation and termination of its legal existence.
(Can read: Electricaribe hands over the keys to Afinia and Aire)
This is how the zone indicators are
The general manager of Air-e, John Jairo Toro, revealed that the situation in which the operation is assumed is very complex due to the state of deterioration of the network, to which are added some “worrying energy losses” of 35 percent and collection of 70 percent, compared to a national average of 14 percent and 94 percent, respectively.
Furthermore, in the quality of service, the Saidi index, which measures the duration of interruptions, is 120 hours per year and the Saifi (frequency with which an interruption occurs) is 104 times a year.
The Air-e firm has an investment plan of 4.4 billion pesos for its 697,304 clients in Atlántico, 308,181 in Magdalena and 169,179 in La Guajira.
Meanwhile, Afinia’s investments in Córdoba, Sucre, Bolívar and Cesar in the first five years are estimated at 4 billion pesos and for the first 10 years they would total 8 billion pesos.
Blanca Liliana Ruiz, general manager of Afinia, assured that although the company under her charge is committed to improving the provision of the service, it will not be able to do it alone and for this it needs the contribution of all stakeholders, especially of local and regional leaders.
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