ASEP has issued a Final Decision on OGI’s utility operations. This is a developing story and more information will be forthcoming soon. Read the original Spanish and a Google translation to English here:
In a nutshell, OGI was found to be in violation of the law by providing electricity service without the required concession. OGI has now been ordered to obtain the necessary permits and concession in order to continue to generate, distribute and market electricity services. Furthermore, OGI may only charge customers for the actual cost of power generation and may not include the investment cost of the distribution system.
Joe Haley proceeded to develop the Red Frog Beach project without the certainty that a connection could be made to the mainland power grid and began selling electricity to residential customers without obtaining the required concession from ASEP. Over the years Haley has tried to operate under the rules governing self-consumption of electricity, ie a construction company may generate power at a job site for its own consumption. Haley has been trying to operate in a perceived gray area since the inception of Red Frog Beach. With the Final Decision from ASEP those days are over. OGI must comply with all regulations that govern providing electricity as a public service including regulation of the rates that it charges.
OPINION: Joe Haley should embrace distributed power generation by encouraging property owners at Red Frog Beach to install their own solar. Also, the technology now exists for individual residences to have their own sewage treatment capabilities. In order to protect his little local utility monopoly Joe Haley has been attempting to prevent property owners from installing their own solar and sewage treatment systems by playing games with the logistics dock. He has been attempting to require homeowners to request permission to use the logistics dock for delivery of things like solar panels. In other words, he has been trying to use OGI’s ownership of the logistics dock to create a veto over independent solar systems for property owners.
Joe Haley embarked upon the Red Frog Beach project because he had some experience in construction in the US. However, he had no experience relating to running a resort or being a utility provider, let alone how to do business in a foreign country such as Panama. It is also unclear whether or not he took an ethics course in college and, if so, what grade he earned. Trying to leave property owners holding the bag for the costs of his mismanagement is inexcusable and the music has just stopped.
Lastly, we want to give Joe Haley a shout-out for his forthcoming book, “Crabs in a Bucket”. The only improvement we would suggest is a change to the title. Perhaps “Curmudgeon in a Bind” would be more accurate.
