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ANDE Unions Reject Bills Creating Energy Ministry and Regulator Image: Gustavo Machado
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Energy & Infrastructure

ANDE Unions Reject Bills Creating Energy Ministry and Regulator

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement New plan
  • Four unions representing ANDE workers rejected the bills creating a Ministry of Energy, Mining and Hydrocarbons and an Energy Regulatory Authority.
  • They said the proposed institutions would consume time and resources without adding electricity infrastructure, and warned that moving planning powers away from ANDE could delay projects.
  • The unions also questioned whether three executive-appointed directors could independently regulate electricity, biomass, hydrocarbons and fuels.

Four unions at Paraguay’s state electricity company ANDE have rejected government plans to establish a new energy ministry and regulator, saying the proposals would create more bureaucracy without addressing the sector’s pressing needs.

in their current form

— Four ANDE unionsThe unions’ stated position on the two proposed energy-sector bills.

The Union of ANDE Engineers, the ANDE Workers’ Union, the ANDE Professionals’ Union and the Union of University-Graduate Professionals at ANDE issued a joint statement on Aug. 31. They opposed both bills “in their current form,” arguing that the proposed institutions would act as distractions and would not install “a single megawatt of electrical infrastructure.”

The unions questioned whether creating a ministry by absorbing lower-level government departments would automatically improve energy-policy coordination. They also noted that Paraguay’s representation at the Itaipu and Yacyreta binational dams would remain outside the proposed ministry’s authority.

a single megawatt of electrical infrastructure

— Four ANDE unionsTheir criticism that the new institutions would consume resources without expanding electricity infrastructure.

A central concern is the plan to transfer electricity-planning responsibilities from ANDE to the new ministry. The unions said that work requires “a deep knowledge of the system’s real needs” and warned that separating it from the institution directly responsible for the power system would bring “more bureaucracy” and further delays to infrastructure projects that already face long timelines.

a deep knowledge of the system’s real needs

— Four ANDE unionsTheir explanation of why ANDE should retain electricity-planning responsibilities.

They described the proposed Energy Regulatory Authority as even more troubling. Under the bill, three directors appointed by the executive branch from candidates proposed by the presidential Civil Cabinet would receive regulatory, technical, economic, inspection and sanctioning powers across electricity, biomass, hydrocarbons and fuels. The unions said Paraguay’s political practices offered no guarantee that the board would remain independent or autonomous. They also criticized the bill’s use of terms such as “market prices,” “regulated and unregulated users” and “agents” without clearly defining them, arguing that it attempts to shape an electricity market without first establishing the sector’s structure in law.

more bureaucracy

— Four ANDE unionsTheir warning about transferring planning powers to the proposed ministry.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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