Authors:
Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri
www.morochos.net
Leaving out what they say about the phenomenon of El Niño, there are two excuses used by Chavistas to justify the current electricity crisis in Venezuela: that our country is now so prosperous that consumes much electricity, and that Venezuelans are wasteful.
However, if we look at the data -IEA figures- of world power consumption, we will realize the unreality of these Chavez's theories.
Venezuela consumes about 84 billion kwh per year, but the U.S. demands almost 4 trillion kwh per year -46 times more than Venezuela- without US citizens living plagued by recurrent and unexpected blackouts, as the ones provoked by the Chavez administration.
Furthermore, the European Union consumes about 3 trillion kWh per year -34 times more than Venezuela- without Europeans needing to support a strict rationing of electricity, as the one that is in place today in Venezuela.
And even in Latin America, a country like Brazil consumes 402 billion kwh per year -4.8 times more than Venezuela- again without Brazilians having to endure daily interruptions of electric service, as happens in Chavez's Venezuela.
So, it is illogical to claim that the factors causing the electricity crisis in Venezuela are over-consumption and waste, since, as we have seen, others require much more electricity than Venezuela without going into crisis.
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- Defects of Chavez's electricity policy
Whoa, hold on!
ReplyDeleteI thought this was obvious but the argument is that electricity consumption has INCREASED dramatically in recent years (mainly the last 5 years). Has it done so at even close to the same rate in any of these other countries you mention? The answer is no.
So it is logical to claim that the factors causing the electricity crisis in Venezuela is over-consumption and waste, as few if any other countries have experienced such a sudden and dramatic jump in the amount of electricity used by their citizens (and encouraging people to use less is one of several important steps towards addressing the problem).
Ok, let's talk about rates. In the recent past years, China, India, Brazil and Mexico have increased their electricity consumption at bigger rates than Venezuela, but they are not experiencing electricity shortages.
ReplyDeleteThe electricity crisis in Venezuela is related to planning, not consumption.