Gov’t orders week-long disconnection for businesses then cancels it as experts call for general blackouts

Hours after the government ordered 9,000 companies to disconnect from the power grid for seven days it cancelled the order, claiming its release was an “error.” On Wednesday night, Public Administration Secretary José Julio Neira said companies should follow the previous order of three-day-a-week disconnection.

Neira said that the Energy Ministry official who ordered the week-long blackout has been terminated for committing an “unforgiveable mistake.”

Saturday could be a day of residential blackouts as the government plans to perform maintenance on power substations and transmission lines.

At 1 p.m. Wednesday, National electricity distributor Centrosur said the disconnection was “immediate and mandatory” and said companies that did not comply would be forcibly disconnected and fined. It said that power would be restored on Tuesday, October 20.

The order, which followed a series of overnight and early morning residential blackouts Tuesday and Wednesday, drew outrage from corporate leaders who said the measure would lead to mass layoffs and bankruptcy for some companies.

A friend of the Energy Ministry employee who ordered the seven-day blacks told Radio Quito that the order “came down from the top” of the ministry and was no mistake. “He was following the directive of his boss,” said the friend, who asked not to be identified. “He is a scapegoat.”

On Wednesday morning, President Daniel Noboa said that Saturday would be a day of nationwide “maintenance and upgrades” of electrical equipment, leading some energy experts to expect it will include widespread blackouts for utility customers. The president did not acknowledge the morning blackouts, referring only to weather damage caused by hailstorms last week in Quito.

The government confusion came on a day when low water levels were recorded at all of the country’s major hydroelectric plants, resulting in reduced power generation. At the Mazar hydro complex in eastern Azuay Province, which hosts three generation facilities and can produce as much as 1,800 megawatts, the reservoir was nine meters from the minimum operational level. The Minas San Francisco hydro plant in southwestern Azuay, faces imminent shutdown as the flow rate of the Rio Jubones was only a meter above the minimum level. Further north, in Napo Province, the Coca Coco Sinclair plant was operating at half its 1,200MW capacity due to the low flow rate of the Rio Coca.

“This is not a situation we and our company and our employees can live with,” said Javier Estrella, director of the Chamber of Industry in Cotopaxi Province, referring to three-day disconnections. Other industry leaders questioned Noboa’s leadership, claiming he failed to follow up on promises to strengthen the power grid following the 2024 blackouts.

Since the weekend, dozens of energy experts and professional organizations have urged the government to begin a schedule of blackouts that apply to all power consumers. Wednesday morning, the Pichincha College of Electrical and Electronic Engineers asked the government to implement an “immediate schedule” of electrical blackouts. “As draconian as they are, the restrictions of business and industry are not enough to avoid a breakdown of the power system under current weather conditions,” the chamber said in statement. “We must immediately begin a program of power suspensions that causes the least harm to the various sectors of our population. Most important, we must have plans to protect hospitals, emergency centers as well as critical services of the productive sectors.”

Chamber member Carlos Andrade questioned Noboa’s claim that routine maintenance and increased thermal generation can protect households from blackouts. “He says he is increasing thermal capacity by 400 megawatts but he doesn’t mention we have recently lost 300 megawatts because of damaged and obsolete machinery that will take months to fix.” Andrade said the country’s operating thermal generation capacity amounts to only about 1,300 megawatts despite government claims it is 3,000.

Former president of the College of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Katheryn Pazos, claims “time is wasting” in not immediately establishing a general schedule for power interruptions. “There will be pain and there will be harm but we must develop a schedule that is as fair and reasonable as possible.”

“It is time to focus on the technical electricity issues and the people it effects,” Pazos said. “It is time to put politics aside,” she added, referring to what she believes is Noboa’s objective of protecting households and voters ahead of the November 29 elections.

The National Meteorological Institute is predicting light showers through Friday in the southern inter-Andean valley, the area where the Mazar and Minas San Francisco hydroelectric plants are located. “The rain could offer temporary relief to water levels at those facilities,” INAMHI said in a bulletin.