March consumption up 11.5 % year-on-year

Power use last month in Bolivia rose 11.5% to 564GWh compared to March 2011, according to statistics from the country's national dispatch committee CNDC. Maximum demand peaked at 1,066MW on March 22, up 3.7% from the year-ago month. The highest maximum demand recorded in the 12 months ended March was 1,067MW. Generation capacity in the month was 1.28GW and production totaled 592GWh. Of the latter, 52.5% came from thermo and 47.5% from hydro compared to 44.9% and 55.1% in March 2011. In March this year, 78.6% and 94.6% of respective thermo and hydro generation parks were available. Of the 592GWh produced last month, the bulk came from Egsa (141GWh), followed by Cobee (121GWh), Corani (96.3GWh), VHE (67.9GWh), Ende Andina (58.6GWh), HB (55.5GWh), CECBB (33GWh), Eresa (8.19GWh), Ende Generación (7GWh), Synergia (3.65GWh) and SDB (33MWh). Power utility CRE pulled the majority of power from the system with 211GWh, followed by Electropaz (128GWh), Elfec (87.1GWh), Sepsa (35.5GWh), Elfeo (34.4GWh), Cessa (19.8GWh) and Ende (7.63GWh). Non-regulated use totaled 41.1GWh. In related news, the country's lower house approved a bill to prioritize power generation and supply in the rural area of Amazon department Pando.