The electrical control body determined that the economic compensation that Edesur’s home customers should receive
For antonio rossi
01/17/2023 – 3:01 p.m.
The intervention of the National Electricity Regulatory Entity (IN RE) -led by the Buenos Aires massista Walter Martello- launched a extraordinary sanctions package against Edesur due to power outages registered during the month of December which will imply for the affected users the collection of different amounts of compensation according to the number of hours they were without electricity supply.
Through resolution 131/2, the electricity control agency determined that the economic compensation that Edesur’s home customers who lost power in the last month of 2022 should receive will be the following:
- For the interruptions of duration greater than or equal to 10 hours and up to 24 hours inclusive: $1,451.
- For duration breaks that spanned between 24 and 48 hours inclusive: $2,418.
- For the interruptions greater than 48 hours: $3,385.
According to the ENRE resolution, the determined compensation “should be applied to residential users for each of the interruptions that have affected them and whose duration falls within one of the mentioned ranges.”
The electrical control body determined that the economic compensation that home customers should receive
Edesur fined for power outages in December
The measure adopted by the entity was framed as a case of “extraordinary impact on the provision of the service” that, according to the current contractual parameters, the distributor has to financially compensate the residential customers that it left without supply.
In accordance with the regulatory and technical annexes that are part of the concession contract, an “extraordinary affectation of the provision of the service” is configured when 70,000 or more users are out of service for five consecutive days, regardless of the duration of the interruptions.
According to the data released by the entity’s technicians up to the 20th of last month, this extraordinary situation occurred between December 5 and 12, when the number of people affected by the cuts ranged between 70,000 and 203,195 households.
To complete the panorama of the entire month, the ENRE ordered Edesur to report within a peremptory term “the daily evolution of the number of users affected by prolonged cuts from December 1 to 31, 2022; without taking into account the interruptions lasting less than or equal to three minutesthose caused by carrying out investment works aimed at improving the quality of the medium voltage (MT) or low voltage (LV) network and those interruptions for which the ENRE has invoked causes of fortuitous event or force majeure” .
To all those who have been without service for more than 10 hours, Edesur must compensate them for each of the interruptions suffered, following the hourly compensation table.
Will they compensate those affected by the blackout at the end of the year?
The ENRE decision covers the cuts registered from the first to the last minute of December. It does not reach the massive blackout that took place after the beginning of the year 2023 and that it left more than 400,000 homes in Edesur and close to 10,000 in Edenor in the dark.
Compensation will be channeled through a credit on the first service invoice
The resolution of the electricity entity clarified that “the compensation provided in this act is without prejudice to instructing the procedures and applying the sanctions that may eventually correspond to Edesur for other breaches in which it may have incurred, as well as the claims that users may perform for the damages produced to the installations and/or artifacts of its property, whose recognition has a specific procedure”.
Regarding the times at stake, the rule establishes that “the total compensation that results for each user must be accredited in your account within 20 administrative business days”.
The compensation will be channeled through a credit in the first service invoice that the distributor issues to the affected users. If the determined amount exceeds the final value of the bill, the remaining balance will pass as a credit in the next invoices.
If the distributor that controls the Italian group Enel – which has already made the decision to sell all its local energy assets to withdraw from the country – does not face compensation, the ENRE may apply a fine equivalent to double the compensation at stake that will go to go to the Treasury.
Although the rules of the game allow the company to appeal the measure through the administrative and judicial channels, the entity remarked that “the appeals will not be processed if the fines and filings filed against the resolution are not previously made effective. official will not suspend its execution and effect”.
