MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina puts clocks forward one hour on December 30

Planning minister Julio De Vido

The Argentine government disclosed Friday the Rational and Efficient Power Use Plan with the aim of easing daily demand peak and saving water reserves for winter. Federal Planning minister Julio De Vido, also known as the “energy czar” underlined that the plan does not mean “restrictions”.

The Plan was described as "permanent" and intended to lower energy consumption in the short and medium term. The bill with all the measures which was sent to Congress includes putting clocks 60 minutes forward beginning December 30 until March 16; changing light bulbs of street lighting; controlling temperatures of air conditioners; modifying scheduled production in companies and in public administration; grants for free low-power bulbs to homes; turning off neon signs. Plus an aggressive media campaign to create awareness of the need to save energy. "We're in a position to plan our non renewable resources", those which enable to address the energy matrix "in a reliable way", said De Vido on making the announcement. De Vido said that by 2013 Argentina will have a gas pipeline transporting 194 million cubic meters per day, "57% more than in 2004" And following expansion of the current pipelines system, "in the near future we will be increasing supply by 70.2 million cubic meters per day". The plan is expected to help achieve energy savings of 5%. "We'll achieve the same results with a more efficient use of energy, taking into account the necessary environment safeguards", added De Vido. The booming Argentine economy and insufficient supply of energy have caused serious and growing bottlenecks in winter and to a lesser extent in summer months. The situation has worsened because of lack of investments from the energy sector which has seen power prices virtually frozen since the melting of the Argentine economy in 2001/02. Argentina's largest power distributor, Edenor, can only charge residential users $0.025 per kilowatt-hour while distributors in neighboring Chile and Brazil charge $0.11 per kWh and $0.115, respectively.