MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

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  ChrisR

  January is the usual time for increases by the government and its monopolies and they haven’t disappointed.
  
  UTE, that paragon of mismanagement from the highest level to everyday intolerance to weather by their damnable distribution system has the highest rate band increasing by 6.8%. There were THREE increases by UTE last year with a significant reduction in supply stability.
  
  If Pepe really wants to reduce inflation he could start with clearing out the windmill lovers at UTE and recruit some good engineers from Europe to improve the system. Getting rid of the USA inspired overhead disaster in cities would help. Looking at the constant activity by the heavy mob replacing local transformers on a VERY regular basis the whole system is creaking along with little or no extra capacity in it.

  Mar 05th, 2013 - 05:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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  redpoll

  Chris With all the rain we have had UTE is producing very cheap current. I was at Rincon de Bonete a month ago and the turbines were going at full capacity (BTW a nice country hotel there which I would thoroughly recommend), so Iwould imagine the Baygorria and Palmar dams are working at capacity also. So why do we have to pay so much for our electric power? Windmills are only 14% efficient

  Mar 05th, 2013 - 06:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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  ChrisR

  2 redpoll
  
  It's not only the electric generation we are paying for and with the choice of windmills and combined power schemes UTE seem determined to waste money hand over fist. Look at the fiasco over the combined power contract: they mixed up the operating divisions of the chosen supplier and accused them of misleading UTE! Shades of Pluna.
  
  The other costs ‘hidden’ in the charges are the distribution of the energy they manage to generate. The system is woefully inadequate at the local level and the street O/H cables show all the signs of long-term overheating. This is not at all surprising given the increase in the use of electrical appliances in the home.
  
  And don’t forget the administration costs of the ‘Directors’, from what I have experienced they couldn’t run a piss-up in a brewery.
  
  Put this lot together and you can see what the consumers are up against. Hopefully the water capacity will hold up as winter approaches so we should not see power outages due to extremely low voltages, which of course helps them make more money with the power factor shift in their favour.
  
  I suppose we will see outages due to the O/H system being incapable of taking the lightning strikes and pulling the breakers out.
  
  I know we are only 3 million people but having an efficient electrical supply is vital to attracting new businesses. Who wants to set up a new factory where the electrical supply keels over at the first sign of stress in the system?
  
  Monopoly problems though, don’t ya love them? :o)

  Mar 05th, 2013 - 09:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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  redpoll

  Chris I be just a higorant farmer and not an electrical engineer but even I can see that the hydraulic enregy capacity in our country is far from being fully exploited. OK the big ones have been done but there a lot of minis that could be done if private enterprive was allowed in. Many dams on the Quequay and the Arapuey
  The first hydro dam in south America was built on the Cunapiru river(but the Brits incidentally) It was destroyed in the big flood of 1959 and has never been repaired. So now we have a situation where Orosur who operate a gold mine a few miles away are the biggest consumer of electricity in Uruguay
  Crazy isnt it?

  Mar 06th, 2013 - 01:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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