Free Zones Suffering From High Electricity Rates

Like the entire private sector, the Association of Free Zones of Costa Rica is complaining about the high cost of electricity and lack of concrete actions to resolve the situation.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Before considering Petrocaribe, companies operating under this regime in Costa Rica are suggesting a further diversification of the energy matrix in order to lower costs.

Increasing the use of renewable energy sources such as natural gas, is the suggestion being made by the Association of Free Zones of Costa Rica (Azofras), before considering joining the Petrocaribe agreement to buy oil from Venezuela. Carlos Wong, vice president of the association, told Prensalibre.cr that "... the Association, looks positively on topics such as natural gas, a point also shared with other sectors such as industry, which is also advocating taking advantage of geothermal and solar energy."

Wong added, "'We need a solution to this issue of energy, because the cost of electricity has gone up by almost 40%, and that is very serious for high-tech enterprises who are also large energy consumers in terms of quality and quantity, meaning that it hits us very hard.'"

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