Sitrande accuses government of distracting public with plans for energy regulator

Workers from Paraguay’s National Electricity Administration, known as ANDE, took to the streets to reject the government’s plan to create an energy regulator. Their union, Sitrande, says the proposal would strip autonomy from the state-owned company.

The planned Energy Regulatory Entity would be created by law. Its draft appeared alongside a bill to establish a Ministry of Energy, Mining and Hydrocarbons. Sitrande opposes both initiatives.

Adolfo Villalba, the union’s secretary-general, accused President Santiago Peña’s government of diverting attention from negotiations over the price of electricity and the way power from Itaipú will be contracted. Those issues form part of the renegotiation of Annex C of the binational treaty.

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If Itaipú is not negotiated well, it will affect people's wallets, because the cost of Itaipú energy for ANDE will rise and create a very large financial hole for ANDE.

“If Itaipú is not negotiated well, it will affect people’s wallets,” Villalba said. He warned that a higher cost for ANDE could create a large financial hole that would ultimately be passed on to consumers through their electricity bills.

Sitrande is demanding that the government, the Foreign Ministry, ANDE’s president and its board focus on the Annex C negotiations and electricity tariffs. Villalba said the union wants the Itaipú tariff reduced as far as the treaty allows and wants an operating agreement that guarantees an affordable price for the public.

He also warned that union representatives would travel around the country to speak with farmers, other unions and social organizations. If the government continues with the projects, he said, Sitrande could organize a major national mobilization.

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Our position is that the Itaipú tariff must be brought down to the floor, as the treaty says.