Honduras freezes power rates for three months with $78 mln subsidy

The government of Honduran leftist President Xiomara Castro said Friday it will spend 1.9 billion lempiras ($78 million) to subsidize the state power utility in order to freeze prices and avoid any rate hikes over the next three months.

The government of Honduran leftist President Xiomara Castro said Friday it will spend 1.9 billion lempiras ($78 million) to subsidize the state power utility in order to freeze prices and avoid any rate hikes over the next three months. The National Electric Energy Company (ENEE) planned to raise power rates between 11% and 12% starting Friday, which would have impacted some two million residential and non-residential customers.

"Thanks to the iron will of President Xiomara Castro, there will be no increase in electricity (rates) due to the international crisis" related to the war in Ukraine, Energy Minister Erick Tejada said in a government statement. ENEE's power plants mostly burn fuel oil and diesel to generate electricity.

The move follows a one-month freeze on gasoline and diesel prices on June 24.