Vicuña presents the mission “less poverty” and announces reduction of the electricity tariff
Ecuadornews:
The vice president of Ecuador, María Alejandra Vicuña, today presented the so-called “Less poverty, more development” mission, which seeks to reduce the poverty rate from 8% to 3.5% by 2021.
In a ceremony held in the town of Pelileo, in the province of Tungurahua, in the Andean center of the country, Vicuña said that with this initiative, which aims to reduce poverty rates in the country, will benefit directly and promptly more than 74,000 families living in extreme poverty.
“We have come a long way in this decade. We reduced poverty by about half, from 16% to 8%, and our goal will be to lower it to 3.5% by the end of this period, in 2021, “insisted Vicuña.”We are going to achieve it, because we are going to do it together with you,” the vice president added at the ceremony, which counted with the presence of dozens of peasants from that region.
Later, during the launch of the National Energy Renewal program, in Ambato, Vicuña, accompanied by the Minister of Electricity Elsy Parodi, announced a reduction in the electricity tariff. “Since last January 1, we Ecuadorians have paid less for electricity,” he said.
Vicuña stressed that the decrease in costs are focused on “incentivizing the productive sector; we improve the energy efficiency and the competitiveness of artisans, merchants and industrialists “. The reduction of the electricity tariff goes from 13% to 19% from 22:00 to 08:00, specifically for the industrial, artisan, popular economy and solidarity sectors.
On street lighting, Vicuña said that the values in this area are reduced by 50%, “generating better conditions for citizens in general.” “Through electricity we will provide the energy we all need to move forward and renew our future,” said Parodi, who said that (with respect to electricity service in general) “we exceed 97% of national coverage, one of the highest in the region”. (I)