SEC confirms the ability of traders to request suspension of supply to delinquent customers

PRESS RELEASE from Acen
July 2024

This is an automated translation of the press release issued in Spanish

In April, the Chilean Association of Energy Marketers (ACEN) asked the Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels ( SEC ) to rule on the impossibility of marketers to suspend the supply of a defaulting customer and the obligation to continue with the provision. The above, according to the union, would affect the cash flow of the suppliers as they are obliged to deliver supplies to delinquent customers and pay for said withdrawals in the Balance Sheets prepared by the National Electrical Coordinator ( CEN ), which only include what corresponds to energy, but also to distribution tolls, transmission tolls and other charges established in the regulations.

In practice, the association argues, suppliers are unable to exercise their right to suspend supply because distributors often do not comply with their requests to interrupt without stating any cause and they are forced to continue supplying without receiving payment. any consideration from their clients. The above, they continue, would seriously affect and put the payment chain at risk.

On June 21, the communication from the SEC formally arrived to ACEN, establishing that the former communicates “to the electrical distribution concessionaires that they have the duty to execute the suspension of electricity supply to free customers when a supported requirement from the suppliers is presented. in the default of all or part of the invoices issued to the free customer, materially executing the interruption in their networks without further interpretation of the supplier's right.

This is good news for supply companies in general, according to the union's executive secretary, Eduardo Andrade, "ACEN understands that to improve competition in the electricity market, the effort and commitment of all the actors in this activity - public and private - and that any inequity or distortion that may occur must be corrected."

He added that with this Ordinary Electronic Official Letter No. 230570 from the SEC, clarity is given regarding the ability of marketing companies to request the suspension of supply to those users who fail to pay.

Read the SEC letter https://bit.ly/4biSTu3