QUITO, Ecuador — QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador began rationing electricity in the country’s main cities on Tuesday as a drought linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon depletes reservoirs and limits output at hydroelectric plants that produce about 75%. of the country’s electricity.
The power cuts were announced Monday evening by the energy ministry, which said in a statement that it would review its decision Wednesday evening.
“We urge Ecuadorians to reduce their electricity consumption during this critical week,” the statement said. “And consider that every kilowatt and every drop of water not consumed will help us face this reality. »
The power cuts in Ecuador come days after dry weather forced Colombia’s capital Bogotá to ration water as its reservoirs reached record levels, threatening local tap water supplies.
Rainfall has decreased in Ecuador and Colombia this year due to warming temperatures in the southern Pacific Ocean, which can cause flooding along the west coast of South America but can also generate intense droughts in the Andean valleys, where many of Ecuador and Colombia’s major cities are located.
In Colombia, where hydroelectric plants are also struggling, officials said Tuesday they are considering providing tax credits to companies that reduce their electricity use.
During the first week of April, Colombia suspended its electricity exports to Ecuador in an effort to save energy for its national needs. Colombia gets about 70% of its electricity from hydroelectric plants.
Camilo Prieto, a professor of climate change at Javeriana University in Bogota, said the current dry spell is not as extreme as previous El Niño-related droughts, such as the one that caused power outages in Colombia in the early 1990s. But he added that demand for electricity has increased over the years in Colombia and Ecuador, as those countries made the “mistake” of continuing to rely on energy hydroelectric.
“The world has learned that an energy mix that is diverse and combines different types of low-emission sources is safer and more reliable,” Prieto said. “If demand continues to grow and these countries’ energy mix is not diversified, they will remain vulnerable. »
On Tuesday, Ecuadorian newspapers published schedules of power cuts in cities including Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil, where most homes and many businesses were left without power for three hours.
Ecuador also experienced power outages linked to droughts in October, January and February.
Karen Verduga, a restaurant owner with six employees in Quito, said she fears some of her frozen meats and vegetables could rot if the current round of power outages continues.
She said her workers couldn’t use a blender to make soups and sauces. Instead, they prepared the food manually over several hours. “We were forced to do things the old-fashioned way,” Verduga said.
Some traders said the power cuts presented them with opportunities.
Oriannis Arcano, a saleswoman at a small candle store, said the power outages helped boost her sales. Still, she said power outages pose problems for her business because “most people want to pay with cards” which don’t work when there is no electricity.
At an event in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, President Daniel Noboa said some of the country’s power plants had been “sabotaged” by his political rivals. Ecuador is set to hold a referendum on Sunday in which some of Noboa’s security policies will be voted on, including a proposal to legalize the extradition of drug traffickers and other dangerous criminals.
Noboa provided no evidence of the alleged acts of sabotage, but said an investigation would be launched. He also wrote a message on X, formerly Twitter, calling for the resignation of Ecuador’s energy minister.
“The threats facing our country require strong decisions,” Noboa wrote in the message where he also said the national government would subsidize electricity bills in April. “The Ecuadorian people cannot pay for the corruption and inefficiency of a few miserable” officials.
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Rueda reported from Bogota
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