On January 27, 2021, the MME issued Decree 099 of 2021 (the “Decree”) which modified the Sole Reglementary Decree for the Mining and Energy sectors to adjust the guidelines for the expansion of the energy service coverage in the Interconnected National System (“SIN” as per its acronym in Spanish) and in the Non-Interconnected Zones (“ZNI” as per its acronym in Spanish).
The above extends the opportunities through which the energy public service companies can perform the activities for the coverage extension in ZNI, to guarantee suitable access to the service of a high percentage of the Colombian population, which was pending to be prioritized.
Among the main modifications incorporated through the Decree, are the following:
- Considering Colombian current situation, in which approximately five hundred thousand users do not have access to energy services, and that for 68% of those users it is more efficient to provide the service using isolated solutions, that are not connected to the SIN, the Decree included in the article 2.2.3.1.2 the following definitions: Isolated User, Physical Network, Logistic and Service Network, Individual Solution and Centralized Solution.
- Funds collected by the Commercial Exchange System Administrator destined for the Financial Support Fund will be used to finance projects and coverage extension plans that could be performed through Physical Networks or Logistic and Service Networks in rural interconnected areas for the attention of Isolated Users.
- It is authorized that the investments for the coverage expansion of the electric energy service in ZNI can be performed with either public or private resources. In any case, the investments will be regulated with the applicable regulation and will be compensated through the applicable tariff schemes established by the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission (“CREG” as per its acronym in Spanish).
- The resources from the Financial Aid Fund for the Energization of Non-Interconnected Zones (“FAZNI” as per its acronym in Spanish), can be used for the energization of Isolated Users through Logistic and Service Networks.
- Article 2.2.3.3.2.2.3.2 is modified to include the following aspects to the remuneration methodology for the provision of the service in ZNI establishing that the service remuneration shall consider the number of the users served and the particularities of each region; and the associated costs for the attention of the users with Centralized Solutions or Individual Solutions shall be discriminated.
- CREG shall take all the necessary measures to incorporate the Isolated Users attention schemes into the distribution charges and indicate the term for the Network Operators to adjust their covering extension plans.
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