Colombia’s Regulatory Commission of Energy and Gas (CREG) announced a series of measures on Tuesday that would impose hefty surcharges on citizens’ and companies’ power bills if the government deems they are “wasting energy.”
The measures, according to CREG, seek to determine individual consumption goals based on each user’s daily average power consumption. Individuals who exceed said predetermined government goals will be subject to additional surcharges ranging from 30 to 50 percent of their power bill depending on their income level as determined by local law. Commercial and industrial locations will be subject to a 100-percent surchange on their power bills.
The surcharges collected will be redistributed “as incentive” to users who end up consuming less power than their determined average as a power bill subsidy.
CREG claimed that the goal of the program is to help bolster the country’s dwindling water reserves, as Colombia largely depends on hydroelectric power plants to generate electricity. According to information published by the Colombian Energy Ministry in February 2023, 70 percent of the country’s power was generated by hydroelectric plants – which, according to the Ministry, puts Colombia in an “enviable position to take advantage of this abundant source of green energy.”
Colombia is presently going through a drought caused by the El Niño weather pattern, which has significantly depleted the water levels of the country’s reservoirs. The drought led the mayor of the capital city of Bogotá, Carlos Gernando Galán, to recently implement a rolling water rationing scheme in an effort to save water.
According to data published by Colombian energy authorities on Monday, Colombia’s water reservoir levels are at 29.5 percent of their capacity, with 27 percent being declared as an “emergency” level that calls for electric power rationing.
The drought has led to an urgent shift in Colombia’s energy generation. Last week, authorities instructed Colombia’s thermoelectric plants to operate at “maximum capacity” for a seven-day period between April 15-21. The Colombian government claimed on Monday that 48 percent of the country’s power is currently being generated by hydroelectric plants, 46 percent by thermoelectric plants, and 5 percent by renewable sources. Colombia reportedly generated 85 percent of its energy from hydroelectric plants during December 2023.
Far-left Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in a controversial bid to “save power and water,” declared April 19 the first of a new yearly “Civic Day of Peace with Nature” in a bid to reduce water and power consumption, especially in the country’s largest cities.
The decree establishes the new “holiday” annually on the third Friday of April. On that day, public government offices, schools, and universities must shut down in compliance with the “civic holiday” mandate.
“This April 19 is a day of rebellion, of reading, of conversation with family and friends about the danger of climate change, about who produces it, about what should be done,” Petro announced in a social media message last week.
“Tomorrow is a day of national rebellion; tomorrow, we combine the forces of life, we drive away the summons of death; tomorrow is the day of life on earth, my day and your day,” the message concluded.
Petro also asked the citizens of the capital city of Bogotá to “voluntarily” leave the city and spend the weekend in other locations if possible to reduce water consumption in the Colombian capital.
The Colombian Congress, located in Bogotá, announced last week that it would not just pledge to the city’s rolling water rationing program, but that it would also ration power in its installations, suspending both services for a three-hour period every day in a bid to help reduce the El Niño drought’s effects.
“We have a duty to take the necessary steps to help resolve the situation,” Iván Name, head of the Colombian Senate and a member of the Colombian Green Party said. Name hoped that the rationing measure will serve as an “example” for both the nation’s public and private sectors.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.