Electricity Rate Increase for Panama July First is Suspended

Electricity rates will not increase for the second half of this year as of July 1st, and you can thank President-elect Mulino for this.  He had complained bitterly about electrical services and power failures in Panama in recent weeks, and he was going to fix it.  To have an increase as of July 1st, his first day as President, would not be well received.  We are being told that the scenarios changed and new calculations and studies were carried out that showed that an increase in service was not required.  This was explained by the Secretary General of Energy designated Juan Manuel Urriola.  “We realized that there was going to be a rate increase in all the distributors and we met with all the distribution companies and the regulatory body (ASEP) and made the adjustments. Normally the rates are managed with some assumptions and based on that we sat down with the distributors and we have managed to stop the increase for the second semester.  In the Edechi area there will be some increases, but the adjustments will be announced by President Mulino,” Urriola said.  The legislation establishes a review of the rate each semester to determine whether or not increases are made in the electric service according to costs.  The adjustments were going to be applied to ENSA and Naturgy customers after the Public Services Authority (ASEP) published the premises and tariff specifications.  However, Urriola confirmed that analyzing the new scenarios did not correspond to the adjustments. Sector sources indicated that the adjustment that was contemplated was between 6% and 10%. Customers who consume up to 300 kilowatt hours per month have maintained the state subsidy.