Panama Slaps Naturgy with $14 Million Fine for Poor Electricity Service

* Remember when the president-elect José Raúl Mulino spoke out about the power outages, a situation that Panamanians are experiencing in many parts of the country? He said that one of the first things that must be done is to put order in the basic service companies that are concessionaires of the State.  Perhaps they weren’t listening because ASEP has just applied the highest and most historic fine for deficient quality in the provision of electricity distribution services. The Metro-Oeste Electric Distribution Company, SA (EDEMET) and the Chiriquí Electric Distribution Company, SA (EDECHI), both part of the Naturgy group, were fined the sum of 14 million dollars for deficiencies in the electricity distribution service.  According to the National Authority for Public Services (ASEP), the companies failed to comply with the current service quality standards in the area of ​​electricity.  Therefore, ASEP orders EDECHI to pay compensation of $3.6 million and EDEMET $10.7 million. Mulino warned weeks before taking office that ASEP would take measures to ensure the proper functioning of the public electricity service.

While electricity rates have risen by between 2% and 15% in the first half of 2024, driven by the drought and the high price of gas and fuel due to the harsh winter in the United States, in Panama there are constant blackouts that can sometimes last for hours, which generates recurring complaints from users, who even close streets to demand service.  Zelmar Rodríguez, appointed general administrator of Asep, warned all concessionaire companies to raise the quality of the provision of public services for the benefit of Panamanians.  ASEP is an autonomous body that controls, regulates, orders and supervises the provision of public services such as drinking water supply, sanitary sewage, electricity, telecommunications, radio and television, as well as the transmission and distribution of natural gas.  In Panama, a country of 4.2 million inhabitants, there are three electricity distribution companies: Edemet (Naturgy), which has 568,000 customers; Ensa (535,000) and Edechi (Naturgy), with 182,000 customers, according to local press data.  For the lawyer and consumer rights expert, Pedro Meilán, the irregular situation that thousands of Panamanians are experiencing nationwide with constant blackouts that last more than six hours, the high price of electricity and the effects caused by fluctuations must be regulated, investigated and sanctioned by the National Authority for Public Services (Asep).