Paraguay promulgates energy anti-theft law

Machine translation was used to publish the following Ande release

In order to protect the integrity of the electrical system and guarantee regularity in the distribution, transmission and supply of electrical energy, the promulgation of Law No. 7300 “That protects the integrity of the electrical system, provides for the seizure and confiscation of assets associated with said punishable act and modifies Art. 173 of Law No. 1160/1997 Penal Code.” The Government of Paraguay, through this Law, has the main objective of protecting the integrity of the country's electrical system, establishing more severe penalties for those who engage in the illegal theft of electrical energy, raising the expected sentence from 3 to 10 years. deprivation of liberty and establishes the seizure and confiscation of assets used for these illicit activities.

During the conference, Eng. Sosa contextualized the reason for the modification of this Law, mentioning that starting in 2020, establishments dedicated to cryptomining were installed massively in the country, on the one hand the legal facilities that have requested energy from ANDE. electrical and, in parallel, those that have been installed irregularly, most of them coming from China. He also highlighted that since then work has been done to define a specific consumption group for this type of activity, which was established in 2022, setting the rate in dollars and applying the technical rate corresponding to this group. Regarding illegal connections, he highlighted that a vigorous campaign and a frontal fight against these illicit practices has been implemented, with the support of the Public Ministry, the Judiciary, the National Police and, in some cases, the Armed Forces of the Nation.

Likewise, the head of ANDE reported that as a result of these interventions, 78 cases of large-scale illegal connections have already been reported, resulting in the seizure of more than 10,000 data processors for the generation of cryptocurrencies in 21 interventions and 52 distribution transformers in 27 interventions. However, despite these actions, the lack of adequate penalties has allowed those responsible to avoid prison, which is why the Executive Branch has sought a legal tool that can be more effective in this fight against large-scale irregular connections.

Finally, Mr. Sosa thanked Congress for the urgent treatment of this Law, recognizing the need to protect one of the country's most valuable resources: electrical energy, emphasizing that the Law does not seek to criminalize cryptomining itself, but rather to attack the illegal practices, consisting of the theft of electrical energy that harm the Paraguayan State, ANDE in its finances and customers in the quality of the electrical service.

The promulgation of Law 7300 marks an important milestone in the evolution of the Penal Code. This modification not only reflects the commitment of the Government of Paraguay to justice and security, but also underlines the capacity of the legislative system to adapt and respond to the needs of society.