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Calle urbana a oscuras durante un apagón nocturno, con velas encendidas en las ventanas de los edificios y torres de transmisión eléctrica en silueta al fondo.
Una calle sin alumbrado durante un apagón, con velas en las ventanas y torres eléctricas en silueta. · Imagen generada para EPM

Venezuela delays power law reform again amid worsening blackouts

Venezuela National Assembly postponed for a second time the final debate on the electricity service law reform, which seeks private investment in a sector hit…

Venezuela National Assembly postponed on Tuesday for a second time the final debate on the reform of the electricity service law, a decision that extends the wait for households living with blackouts that have grown more frequent. --- The context --- The country has endured an electricity crisis for more than a decade, but outages have intensified over the past year and have triggered social protests in different areas, where people demand a continuous service as a basic condition for daily life, work and family education. --- The facts --- The postponement came at the request of lawmaker Pedro Carreño, who considered that the legislature had already advanced fruitfully in discussing some of the more than 20 articles to be reformed. The discussion is expected to continue in a coming session, with no date announced for the final debate. The initiative seeks to encourage private investment in the sector and to regulate the service nationwide, including international energy exchanges through generation, transmission, dispatch, distribution and commercialization, as explained during the reading of the text in an ordinary session of parliament. --- The positions --- The opposition and experts attribute the crisis to corruption and lack of maintenance, while the government attributes it to sanctions, the El Niño climate phenomenon and alleged sabotage. These are two opposing explanations that citizens keep hearing while outages continue and protests voice a deep accumulated frustration in affected neighborhoods. --- What remains unknown --- It is still unknown when the discussion will resume or how the promised universal access to the service will be guaranteed in practice under conditions of equality, continuity, regularity, safety and quality, or how the efficient, transparent, sustainable and safe system promised will be achieved. --- Unanswered questions --- When will the Assembly resume the final debate on the reform? What immediate measures will ease the blackouts while the law remains under discussion? Will the promised universal access reach the communities that are protesting the outages today? --- EPM analysis --- The new postponement confirms that the institutional response is moving more slowly than the daily emergency. Each week without an approved law adds candles, spoiled food and interrupted workdays for those with the least margin, and the official promise of relief needs verifiable facts to rebuild trust. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the right to a continuous electricity service cannot depend on legislative calendars that are postponed without a sufficient explanation to citizens, because blackouts punish the most vulnerable households first and fuel protests that express a legitimate demand for dignity, so the Assembly must set a date, debate transparently and pass a reform with real guarantees of equality and quality, while the government accounts clearly for system maintenance and the urgent measures it will apply until the new law takes effect nationwide.
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