Browse Honduras Daily Stories

René Alfaro, a former ENEE administrator, says Honduras's energy reforms have not yet produced tangible results and warns that tying financing to five-year loss-reduction targets lacks technical clarity and could hamper the state power utility's recovery.

Outstanding electricity bills owed to Honduras's state power utility have climbed to L21.1 billion (about $845 million) as of August 31, with residential customers accounting for more than half the debt despite repeated government payment relief programs.

An economist at Honduras's national university says the state power utility's financial crisis, unresolved across multiple administrations, risks becoming unsalvageable if deterioration continues.

Former Energy Secretary Erick Tejada says Honduras's state power company needs eight years to recover from deep structural problems, and warns that the government's no-subsidy policy is pushing electricity rate increases onto ordinary Hondurans.

The World Bank recommended splitting Honduras's state power utility ENEE into three separate units for generation, transmission, and distribution in 2007, but the government did not act; losses have since grown from 25% to 38% of revenue, and experts say the breakup is now urgent.