Panama imposed a record fine of 14 million dollars on the Spanish company Naturgy for “failing to comply” with quality standards in electricity distribution, the autonomous public services regulatory body reported this Monday.
The National Public Services Authority (ASEP) “applied the highest and historic fine for deficiency in the quality of electric distribution service provision for the sum of 14 million balboas (dollars),” said Zelmar Rodríguez, the new head of the organization.
Naturgy has two electricity distribution concessions in Panama, where complaints about blackouts and other failures in services provided by different companies are common. Sometimes, blackouts or fluctuations in the electrical service cause damage to household appliances, which generates anger among users.
The new Panamanian president, José Raúl Mulino, complained before taking office on July 1 about failures in the electrical service and promised to be tough on concessionaires that provide poor services.
“Tired of the constant power cuts and the terrible service from @naturgy, I installed an electric generator in my house that I paid for out of my own pocket. We are going to work to improve the service so that no Panamanian has to live amid constant blackouts,” Mulino wrote on the X network on June 11.
According to ASEP’s statement, the Metro-Oeste company (Edemet) and the Chiriquí company (Edechi), both from the Naturgy group, “failed to comply with the current quality of service standards in electricity matters.”
For this reason, ASEP applied a fine of 10.7 million dollars to Edemet and 3.6 million to Edechi. Naturgy is a Spanish energy group with operations in more than 20 countries, according to its website.
