State of Emergency Decree Electric bolivarense population caused concern
Written by Hernan Velasco - Photo: Elke Gate
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
* Some expressed support for such action, while others only described the decree as "another attempt by the government against the people"

Ciudad Bolivar .- There have been several comments that have been generated with the current electrical problem reached critical levels in recent months by poor energy production as a result of natural phenomenon "El Niño", which led to drought in reservoirs of hydroelectric dams in Guiana, and a high population growth.
It is for this reason that the national government declared state of emergency in the power sector, with the application of sanctions to high use, a standard established by at least 60 days extendable to create incentives for saving electricity and accelerate the implementation of power generation works as mentioned the president of the Republic, Hugo Chávez, in a speech broadcast on radio and television. This means the last episode in the electricity crisis in Venezuela that began to appear with great power outages for about two years.




Conflicting opinions


Since the implementation of this decree, residential users will pay an additional charge of between 75% and 200% on your bill if you do not reduce electricity consumption by at least 10%, or if it increases to 20%. Similarly, businesses and industries must reduce their energy consumption by 10% initially, or else suffer service cuts by established times.

Against this background, most bolivarense the community is against such a measure, except a few who expressed their support on the grounds that "everyone should contribute to the country out of the electricity crisis.

However, this was not the opinion of Jose Antonio Gonzalez, a social activist Heres municipality, who said that with the mentioned decree only tramples on the people, especially the historically dispossessed, they will have to pay the consequences of an error "is entirely of the rulers," he said.

"Here the problem is the lack of investment, then, in due course were due execution of the work necessary to supply energy demand and be prepared to population growth, which is a major cause of the crisis," .

He added that any home country consumes more than expected in the decree, for what he termed the move as "rash" because it only seeks to obtain the resources from the pocket of people "who ultimately is the one that always pays the piper from the mistakes of government, "said Gonzalez.

With regard to Elebol been providing service to the community bolivarense, Gonzalez appreciates the effort of workers who strive to meet municipal demand, despite the lack of top teams at the lack of existing investment.

"Neither in private nor state-owned company has worked, simply because of the lack of investment, and that reality is one that lives across the country now, the problem is caused by the bad policies of the Government in power, wielded .

Meanwhile, Ramon Flores, social leader of the regional capital, said that the Emergency Decree Electric is another "attack" against the President of the Venezuelan population.

"There may always be people who have to bear the consequences of bad policies of this government," said the witness.

He concurred with the previous respondent that the issue of divestment is not just because of a natural phenomenon. "We are aware that the country is experiencing an energy crisis, but that is due to the reluctance of the Government in the rush of works that may solve the problem", added.

On the other hand said that at least 50 per cent of the population of the municipality Heres does not use the electric meter and many lines have been set up illegally, which also represents an addition to the current electricity crisis.

Similarly Jose Raul Sanchez, a resident of the regional capital, said that the measure as "an abuse of power because without consultation impositions are applied to people, these actions are typical of authoritarian political models.

Considered that the measure is fair for large energy consumers such as shops and businesses, not for those families who are less wasted electricity.

"Neither the government sets the example here because the street lights pinned sometimes lasting all day wasting energy in large quantities, because these bulbs consume many watts," he said.

He also referred to has been providing service in the municipality Elebol Heres, which is one of the worst in the entire region, not having sufficient investment to improve the system and electricity networks.




Supporters of the measure




Meanwhile, some residents of the capital of the entity supported Electrical Emergency Decree it seeks to raise awareness in the community with a culture of energy saving and waste no culture that has prevailed in the minds of Venezuelans for years .

At least they found Franklin Morales, worker and father bolivarense, who said he agreed with this action of the executive as it will help in improving this important service in Venezuela.

"The important thing is to create awareness in the group because one of the main problems is waste of energy because those resources are not renewable and we must all be responsible when using this service," spoke.

The same perception was that of Jose Caraballo, leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela in Ciudad Bolivar, who said the measure enacted by the Government is correct because it will allow the necessary investments and start attacking the problem from multifactorial actions with the change in the culture of consumption by a people who take care of natural resources.

"Firstly, it aims to create awareness and then lash out with the necessary investment, we must take into account that we are in a crisis that requires the full support of Venezuelans," he said.

Also, the interviewee said on Elebol service, stating that this company is in a transition process and after a few years may better serve the collective bolivarense.

Adrián Magallanes, social communicator of Ciudad Bolivar and director of a news radio station, also believed in relation to emergency decree prompted by the Executive Power.

He said the information professional in the field that all Venezuelans should unite their efforts to exit the energy crisis, because it is a situation affecting the whole population without distinction of any kind.

"The important thing is to face this situation together logically is caused by natural phenomena and our duty as citizens is to benefit from the measures taken by the Government to improve electric service," he said.

In the same vein spoke Milagros Bolivar community council spokesman sector February 4, who called all the inhabitants of their community and other popular areas of the capital of Bolivar state to respect the Emergency Decree Electrical and contribute together with the measures taken by the Government.

"We must take into account that all measures taken by the Executive on this issue is to solve it, we gain nothing start throwing blame at each other, the important thing is to join efforts to exit the electricity crisis," community leader reported .




Investment




According to the announcement by the President of the Republic after the end of the period of Emergency Electrical government entities from the sector will accelerate the implementation of power generation works, under the official forecasts, should be added to system 4 thousand megawatts this year , with an investment of 4 billion dollars. The government expected to double by 2015 daily electricity generation and reach 30 thousand megawatts, which will require investments in excess of 15 billion dollars, with the help of other countries such as Argentina, Cuba, Brazil, China, among others. Importantly, the government blames the situation on the electricity crisis to a persistent drought that has emptied the giant Guri Dam, responsible for 70% of the country's electricity generation. But other sectors believe that this is a problem of disinvestment.