Pres. to sign rates freeze decree

Ecuador's President Lucio Gutierrez said he will sign a decree this week to freeze electricity rates from November, newspaper El Universal reported. Rates have increased by about 1.64% every month since January, and are becoming unaffordable for Ecuadorians. The current rate is about US$0.0909/kWh, which is expected to increase to US$0.0916/kWh by November. There is strong domestic opposition to rates hikes in Ecuador, but the decision to freeze rates could cause problems with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has urged Ecuador to bring rates in line with costs. Meanwhile, a group of four Cuban experts arrived in Ecuador on Monday to study converting the country's thermoelectric power plants to use crude oil instead of refined fuels to reduce generation costs. With Cuba's help, Ecuador wants to covert 40% of its thermo plants to use crude oil over the next three years as part of a technical agreement signed between the two countries. The conversion will take 6-8 months and reduce generation costs by about 30%, according to Ruben Barreno, director of Ecuador's energy regulator Conelec, El Comercio reported. The Cuban experts will help decide whether the conversion process should begin with the largest, most inefficient generators, Electroguayas and Termoesmeraldas, or with the smaller generators located closer to crude supplies, Barreno added. Cuba has installed capacity of 3,500MW, of which 98% is thermoelectric while Ecuador has 3,600MW installed capacity, of which 40% is thermoelectric and 60% is hydroelectric.