BRIEFS: Energy

Hotels want to generate their own electricity

Hotels throughout the country plan to ask electricity distributors for permission to supply energy for themselves and to use their own generators, thus becoming self-sufficient in terms of energy production, announced the Asociación Panameña de Hoteles (Apatel) in a statement.

Apatel president Jorge Loaiza said that the hotel industry aims to reduce its energy expenses and ease the burden on the national grid.

The Asociación has often expressed its dissatisfaction with the cost of electricity and the way the government’s fuel clause affects them. “When [the price of] oil rises, we’re charged more, but when it falls, like yesterday, there’s no change,” said Loaiza.

Victor Urrutia, an administrator at the Autoridad de Servicios Públicos (Asep), said that current laws do not prevent a business from being energy self-sufficient.

“What they can’t do is go supply themselves and then connect to the grid,” explained Urrutia. “To do that they’d have to reach an agreement with distributors.”