The National Development Plan (PND) of the government of President Gustavo Petro proposes several changes for the mining-energy sector. It is highlighted that companies will be able to develop, in an integrated manner, the activities of generation, transmission, distribution and commercialization of electrical energy.
This will also be used for companies that have the same parent company, but generation and transmission in an integrated manner will only be allowed if it occurs unconventional renewable energy.
(Also read: This is the Petro government’s road map for the next four years)
In addition, it is proposed that the budget of the Mining and Energy Planning Unit (Upme) will be financed with contributions that must be made Ecopetrol, ISAthe National Mining Agency (ANM), the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH).
Regarding the electricity subsidy, it is established that a reallocation of this will be carried out to guarantee that the essential level of consumption of those families of strata 1 and 2 who are in vulnerable socioeconomic conditions.
Another point raised in the PND is that the program of the Ministry of Mines and Energy for the replacement of firewood, charcoal and waste in cooking food will no longer include only fuel gas, but also biogas and other transitional sources of energy. The remaining resources from the remuneration of the Pozos Colorados-Ayacucho-Galán Polyduct can be used to finance this program.
Likewise, the financing or co-financing of fuel gas massification projects –with public resources– for users of strata 1 and 2, as well as the population of rural areas that meets the conditions to receive the rural social interest housing subsidy, may include the costs of internal networks and the connection charge.
(Read also: The powers that the Development Plan would give to President Petro)
Additionally, it is stipulated that the percentage of electricity transfers, which must be paid by plants of more than 10 megawatts that generate energy from non-conventional renewable sources, account from 1 to 6 percentand exclusively use those located in areas with higher solar radiation and wind speed (such as La Guajira), as established by the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
The ANM is also granted the power to delimit and grant small and medium-sized miners, organized under associative figures, strategic mining reserve areas with high potential for strategic minerals necessary for «energy transition, industrialization, food security and public infrastructure».
Through the PND, a free hand would also be given so that the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit can determine the «differential mechanisms» of diameter of the reference sales prices of gasoline and diesel.
In addition, government entities must implement strategies to save at least 15 percent on energy consumption.
