Energy distributors complain to President Solis for actions of ARESEP

Camera ensures that regulatory authority 'overstepping' its functions

Companies agreed to demand ARESEP at Dispute Court by differences

May 07th,2015

The House Energy Distribution Companies and Telecommunications (CEDET), complained to President Luis Guillermo Solis for the actions of the Public Services Regulatory Authority (Aresep) on issues related to distributed generation and the impact of user fees .

In a sustained Wednesday meeting with the president, Allan Benavides, president of CEDET and chief of the Public Service Company of Heredia (ESPH) he noted a concern as to their discretion the regulatory authority has 'gone too far' in their duties.

"We are concerned that ARESEP has exceeded its functions and by simple rules we have tried to rank public service distributed generation (eg, solar, wind, small-scale) and even he is handling fee sales at times superior to private generation rates and the cost of own energy of some power distribution companies, "said Benavides, through an official gazette.

Benavides said that this means that by 'mandate' of ARESEP would have to buy surplus distributed generation at a more expensive price of produce, "to the detriment of tariffs for all our users," he defended.

CEDET made clear its support for the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) against the regulator, as this portfolio is the position that distributed generation is not a public service and should only regulate certain technical aspects.

The camera went further and said the president not share some recent decisions by ARESEP and accused of, under his perspective, companies want to weaken distributed generation.

"ARESEP began last year regulatory reform, which seeks to open up the market without a law, that being a strategy that was used in the past in other countries. Regulatory reform is to financially weaken the distribution companies by forcing them to take technical standards supposedly unnecessary costs, while at the level of methodologies tariff revenues fall, leaving a financing gap "claimed Benavides.

Read more: "crhoy.com"