Vice President José Manuel Restrepo acknowledged at Acolgen's 18th Annual Energy Congress that Colombia's electricity system faces a complex situation, inherited as a blackout risk from the prior administration.
Read moreAcolgen president Natalia Gutiérrez told the association's Annual Energy Congress that Colombia faces two distinct problems: "we have a short-term need. A structural problem."
Read moreAndeg president Alejandro Castañeda endorsed CREG's energy-savings program but called for adjustments accounting for the Caribbean's heat.
Read moreVice President José Manuel Restrepo told Bogotá's Acolgen Congress that only 1.9% of expected new generation capacity came online in 2025 -- the fifth consecutive year of that shortfall -- directly tying Colombia's stalled electricity buildout to its broader economic ambitions.
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We’ve written a lot lately about the Caribbean coast’s resistance to the CREG’s tariff plan, designed to encourage more frugal use of electricity during El Niño. We thought we’d look at some of the numbers.
Read moreColombia's electricity regulators are preparing three sequential energy auctions to strengthen system capacity and close the projected gap between supply and demand.
Read moreColombia's firm-energy deficit – projected at 7.76% of demand for 2026-2027 – combined with severely delayed generation expansion (just 1,027 of the 4,475 MW expected for 2026 had entered operation as of September 10, only 23% of target) is reviving comparisons to 1992's year-long blackout, which forced a complete restructuring of the electricity sector.
Read moreVice President José Manuel Restrepo outlined the government's growth strategy at the 18th Annual Energy Congress, arguing Colombia's anemic private investment – at its lowest share of GDP in 51 years – makes 6% growth impossible without urgent reform.
Read moreColombia enters this El Niño with less water reaching reservoirs than in 2015-2016 or 2023-2024: since June, rivers have delivered only three of every four liters of normal inflow, while IDEAM puts the odds at 81% that the event crosses the threshold for a "very strong" Niño.
Read moreXM, Colombia's grid operator and an ISA subsidiary, warned in its latest bulletin that the gap between the system's firm (secure) energy and projected demand will reach 7.76% for 2026-2027 and remain at 7.6% for 2027-2028, up sharply from 5.43% in 2025-2026.
Read moreCREG's Resolución 101 120 (later amended by Resolución 101 126), in effect since September 1, sets an individual monthly consumption target for each regulated user based on their trailing 12-month average. Users who cut consumption more than 10% below that target earn a bill credit; those who exceed it by more than 10% pay a surcharge, only on the excess consumption, not the whole bill, scaled at 30% for strata 1-3, 50% for strata 4-6, and 70% for commercial and industrial users.
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El Niño is here. The lead graph shows the amount of water flowing into Colombia’s hydroelectric dams and it doesn’t take sophisticated statistical analysis (or ChatGPT) to realize that inflows are in decline and have been since probably March.
Read moreCREG director Adriana Jiménez told the Senate's Fifth Commission that the agency is moving to modernize the Reliability Charge, the mechanism ensuring Colombia always has sufficient firm energy, particularly during critical periods like El Niño, after more than 20 years under the current model.
Read moreThe Ministries of Finance and Mines and Energy will present an urgent-message bill to Congress seeking CoP$1.2T to sustain liquidity measures for the electricity sector through El Niño, funded not through new 2026 spending but by reorganizing existing budget line items within the current General Budget.
Read morePresident Abelardo De la Espriella issued Decree 1373 de 2026, assigning Vice President José Manuel Restrepo a broad interinstitutional and intersectoral coordination role covering state modernization, education, strategic resources, energy security, economic growth, competitiveness, macroeconomic stability, and Colombia's international investment positioning.
Read moreEnvironment Minister Fabio Arjona detailed his ministry's measures to shore up the electricity system against El Niño during a September 9 congressional debate on the energy sector, the same session where Minister Arboleda warned tariffs must rise.
Read moreAir-e's intervention marks two years with the financial and administrative crisis deepened rather than resolved.
Read moreMinister of Mines and Energy María Nohemí Arboleda told Congress's Economic Commissions on September 9 that electricity tariffs must increase, pointing to falling hydroelectric output, greater thermal reliance, and rising gas costs as the drivers.
Read moreColombia's Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Mines and Energy announced two Memoranda of Understanding with the United States government, aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation on strategic minerals and nuclear energy.
Read moreThe Comisión de Regulación de Energía y Gas (CREG) activated its reliability-sustainment mechanism under Resolución CREG 101 127 de 2026, following technical recommendations from XM's National Dispatch Center and the National Operations Council.
Read moreAs Colombia heads into El Niño in earnest, a number of voices, especially former MinEnergia’s have called for an incentive program to promote the “right behaviors”: encourage those who use energy wisely and, frankly, punish those who waste it. Inevitably perhaps, the CREG’s plan provoked criticism from the Caribbean.
Read moreSenator Ana Paola García (La U) announced she'll formally summon the SuperServicios to the Senate's Sixth Committee to explain why intervened utility Air-e signed a modernization contract with Chinese company Nationals rather than focusing on lowering the high energy costs burdening Caribbean municipalities.
Read moreThe Colectora transmission project, critical to connecting La Guajira's wind generation to the national grid, faces another delay after the Ministry of Interior certified 18 additional communities requiring prior consultation.
Read moreBogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán raised an alert about the capital's electricity supply amid El Niño, warning the city could face difficulty meeting rising consumption if infrastructure isn't upgraded soon.
Read moreAtlántico governor and RAP Caribe president Eduardo Verano told the Inspector General’s newly installed technical roundtable in Bogotá that Colombia's electricity crisis won't be solved with temporary measures, arguing instead for a fundamental review of sector regulation and how the energy chain is currently organized.
Read moreThe Inspector General’s office will formally investigate former Minister of Mines and Energy Edwin Palma and former Superintendent of Public Services Elmer Felipe Durán over their alleged roles in worsening the crisis at intervened utility Air-e.
Read moreFormer Attorney General Francisco Barbosa writes in El Heraldo that Air-e's crisis illustrates a distinct kind of supply risk: a "financial blackout" that doesn't require empty reservoirs to disrupt service.
Read moreSergio Arturo Piñeros Botero was sworn in August 13 as director of the Agencia Nacional de Licencias Ambientales (ANLA), the agency responsible for licensing hydrocarbons, electricity, and other infrastructure projects nationwide, succeeding Irene Vélez Torres.
Read moreInspector General Gregorio Eljach Pacheco installed a permanent technical roundtable on "paz energética" at his office this week, bringing together the government, regional authorities, sector agents, and control bodies to move from diagnosing Colombia's energy crisis toward folding solutions into the new 2026-2030 National Development Plan.
Read moreThe Inspector General's office is investigating a contract Air-e signed with China National Machinery Exports and Imports Corporation to finance up to CoP$1T in electrical infrastructure work, adding fresh alarm to a sector already watching the utility's finances closely.
Read moreColombia has designated 998,576 hectares of rural land as Areas Protected for the Production of Food (APPA) as of July, created under the Petro government's Agriculture Ministry to safeguard land for food production and security.
Read moreColombia's Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Mauricio Gómez Amín, reported progress strengthening economic ties with Japan following strategic meetings in Tokyo, part of a government push to attract investment across agroindustry, technology, automotive manufacturing, and the transition to a sustainable economy.
Read moreSpeaking at Asobancaria's Banking Convention in Cartagena, Inspector General Gregorio Eljach warned that municipal governments and public entities need to get current on their electricity debts to relieve pressure on the sector's finances, confirming his office has opened disciplinary investigations over unpaid utility bills.
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Colombia's electricity demand is projected to grow roughly 10% between 2026 and 2030, per UPME estimates cited at Andeg's 13th Energy Forum, straining a system already contending with delayed transmission projects.
Read moreAndeg president Alejandro Castañeda told the association's energy forum that despite tight physical supply and rising demand, the system's most immediate threat isn't a lack of energy but the financial state of the companies that generate it.
Read moreThe national government, through the Ministries of Finance and Mines and Energy, committed CoP$1.5T to Colombia's electricity sector under the newly named "Energy Plan NOW," aimed at protecting service continuity amid a payment-chain liquidity crisis affecting generators, transmitters, distributors, and commercializers.
Read moreFormer Minister Amylkar Acosta argues in this El Heraldo column that delays in building transmission lines and substations have stopped being a purely technical problem and become a direct cost passed to consumers – when the grid can't move power efficiently, the system falls back on more expensive generation, and that markup flows straight into household and business tariffs.
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XM's wholesale market manager Jaime Alejandro Zapata told Andeg's 13th Energy Forum in Barranquilla that UPME projects Sistema Interconectado Nacional demand growing roughly 10% between 2026 and 2030, pressuring both system supply and the transmission network.
Read moreDeputy Minister of Energy Armando José Cuello said technical teams across the Ministry of Mines and Energy, CREG, and the Environment and Finance ministries are reviewing every available option to keep Colombia's electricity system stable through El Niño, though he stopped short of saying blackout risk is fully off the table.
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Minister of Mines and Energy María Nohemí Arboleda's administration reported a fast pivot from diagnosis to action in its first ten days, centered on institutional coordination to stabilize energy supply and tighten control over public resources.
Read moreGrupo EPM's electricity marketing companies in Colombia will implement a transitional incentive program for efficient electricity use, created by the CREG through Resolución CREG 101120 de 2026, aimed at reducing regulated demand during periods of energy scarcity, low rainfall, and supply reliability risk.
Read moreAndeg president Alejandro Castañeda struck an optimistic tone on the sector's relationship with the incoming government ahead of the association's 13th Energy Forum in Barranquilla.
Read moreCREG executive director Adriana Jiménez said the sector's central challenge is coordinating simultaneous technological transitions across generation, grids, storage, and end users into a sustainable, integrated system, rather than regulating each shift separately.
Read moreThe Ministry of Mines and Energy issued Circular 40034, requiring every ministry, decentralized entity, and other national-level government body to design and implement an Action Plan for energy savings and efficient use within 15 business days.
Read moreThe previous government announced Colombia's most recent Reliability Charge auction, held May 22nd as a success – 15 new generation projects plus an existing plant's expansion, an estimated CoP$16T in investment, and 4,069.7 MW of new capacity assigned to meet demand for December 2029-November 2030. But …
Read moreAir-e's intervening agent, Jaime Mesa Buitrago, detailed new tiered electricity tariffs at a Consejo Nacional de Operación de Gas (CNO Gas) meeting in Barranquilla led by then Minister Edwin Palma, under which consumers who reduce usage can earn discounts of up to 40%, while those exceeding set thresholds will pay progressively more.
Read moreColombia's National Council for Economic and Social Policy (CONPES) approved the country's first National Hydrogen Policy document, with then-MinEnergia Edwin Palma casting a favorable vote in the non-in-person session, establishing an intersectoral roadmap to develop hydrogen as a strategic sector through 2031.
Read moreColombia's electric vehicle boom has shifted the industry's central challenge from selling cars to building the network that keeps them moving.
Read moreMaría Nohemí Arboleda, sworn in as Colombia's new Minister of Mines and Energy under President Abelardo De la Espriella, summarized the state of the sector bluntly in her first hours in office: "the situation is critical, but not lost."
Read moreThe Asociación Nacional de Empresas de Servicios Públicos y Comunicaciones (Andesco) delivered a "critical" balance of the Petro government's energy record as it left office, warning the incoming administration faces financial, regulatory, and supply risks despite genuine transition-era progress over the past decade.
Read moreColombia's average wholesale spot price reached CoP$562.1/kWh in June 2026, up 395.7% from CoP$113.4/kWh in June 2025 and 8.9% from May, driven by increased thermal generation's share of the mix.
Read moreAn El Espectador retrospective on the Petro government's energy record found sharp disagreement on the electricity side, where genuine renewable-capacity gains sit alongside execution delays and a financial crisis at one of the Caribbean's main distributors.
Read moreThe Household Public Services User League (Liga Nacional de Usuarios de los Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios) pushed back against former Minister Edwin Palma's plan to penalize energy waste during the current drought.
Read moreOn Friday, August 7th Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in as Colombia’s President for 2026 to 2030, a critical period for the county’s energy sector.
Read moreVice President José Manuel Restrepo presented findings from 62 technical transition meetings held with the General Controller, a process he called "historic" in the country's democratic life.
Read moreThe Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC) formally charged Enel Colombia, AES Colombia, and Celsia Colombia, finding preliminary evidence suggesting conduct that may have affected free economic competition in the Mercado de Energía Mayorista (MEM).
Read moreThe Inspector General’s First Delegate for State Contracting suspended Brayan Giraldo Ruiz, executive director of the Fondo de Energías No Convencionales y Gestión Eficiente de la Energía (Fenoge), for three months and opened a disciplinary investigation over alleged irregularities in a contracting process worth more than CoP$164,000 million
Read moreArmando Cuello Navarro, tapped as Vice Minister of Energy under incoming Minister María Nohemí Arboleda, arrives with direct electricity-sector operating experience: he most recently served as general manager of CEO (Compañía Energética de Occidente), the Cauca electricity distributor and Promigas subsidiary, where he led initiatives on innovation, operational efficiency, and sustainability.
Read moreThe Comisión de Regulación de Energía y Gas (CREG) announced progress on the long-running Colombia-Panama electricity interconnection project, publishing a Complementary Agreement with Panama's Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP) that establishes the remuneration scheme for the interconnection
Read moreThe Ministry of Mines and Energy ordered every network operator in the country to mandatorily report information on connection points for generation, cogeneration, self-generation, distributed generation, and energy community projects currently in process, pending approval, awaiting energization, or rejected over the past twelve months,
Read moreThe Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios published "Generación Eléctrica en Colombia 2026: Concentración, Riesgos y Transición Energética," the first study from its new Observatorio de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios, identifying structural vulnerabilities in the national generation fleet even as the country advances on renewables.
Read moreThe Ministry of Mines and Energy is setting up a dedicated cybersecurity monitoring center (CMS) providing continuous monitoring, early threat detection, and coordinated incident response across the sector's technology infrastructure.
Read moreThe Ministry of Mines and Energy issued Resolución 40334, simplifying the connection process for public electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid charging stations to the electrical grid, aiming to accelerate deployment of what it called strategic infrastructure for the country's clean mobility transition.
Read moreThe Comisión de Regulación de Energía y Gas (CREG) formally approved a measure offering discounts of up to 40% on electricity bills for households that cut consumption by up to 30%, with surcharges applied to users who exceed reference consumption levels.
Read moreA public dispute broke out over Air-e's financial trajectory nearly two years into its government intervention, with Caribbean Region Users League coordinator Norman Alarcón directly challenging claims from SuperServicios Felipe Durán that more than 20 actions have been taken to stabilize the utility.
Read moreColombia's Constitutional Court reviewed three decrees issued under the Economic Emergency declared by Decreto 150 de 2026 in response to the extreme weather event of early 2026, upholding most measures while striking some provisions and conditioning others to the actually affected areas.
Read moreGrupo Energía Bogotá president Juan Ricardo Ortega delivered his most detailed public assessment yet of Colombia's transmission crisis through two Valora Analitik pieces in consecutive days -- a letter to president-elect De la Espriella and a direct interview. Read together, they form a comprehensive indictment of four years of energy infrastructure paralysis and a precise warning about what comes next if it continues.
Read moreDelivered at the inauguration of a solar project in Manaure, La Guajira, Minister Edwin Palma's July 23rd call for telework and study-from-home schemes represents the most direct government intervention yet on the demand side of Colombia's El Niño preparedness.
Read moreThe resolution enabling private-sector electricity transactions between Colombia and Ecuador was confirmed legally on July 22, Minister Edwin Palma announced via X, clearing the way for the resumption of International Electricity Transactions (TIE) between the two countries in the coming days.
Read moreColombia's two most important La Guajira clean energy infrastructure announcements of the transition period arrived together on July 24: the Colectora 500 kV transmission line -- the dedicated highway for Guajira wind energy -- reaching 90% overall construction completion, and a draft regulatory resolution designed to prevent the wind projects that will connect to it from being cancelled due to the planning mismatches that have dogged Colombia's renewable buildout.
Read moreThe first invoices under the Colombia Solar program have arrived in the Villas de San Pablo neighborhood of Barranquilla -- and the numbers are striking.
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This morning I read a Bloomberg Energy newsletter piece about the growing disenchantment with LNG for Asian emerging markets importering countries and it got me thinking, again, about the long-term impact on the global energy matrix of the Iran War.
Read moreThe outgoing Petro government issued two related but distinct resolutions in the final weeks of its mandate that together address the structural problems most frequently cited for Colombia's electricity supply crisis: the chronic disconnect between generation and transmission project planning, and the grid's vulnerability to high-impact disruptions from extreme weather, equipment failure, and cyberattack.
Read moreThe outgoing Petro government recorded an important achievement: Colombia's installed capacity in solar and wind energy reached 4,626.73 MWp as of July 17th, 2026, surpassing the 4 GWp milestone of the administration's flagship 6GW+ program and representing a more than twenty-fold expansion from the approximately 200 MWp of non-conventional renewable capacity the government inherited in August 2022.
Read moreThe Comisión de Regulación de Energía y Gas (CREG) has named economist Adriana Jiménez Delgado as executive director for a 12-month term, formalized under Resolution CREG 105 015 of 2026.
Read moreWith fewer than two weeks left in his administration, President Gustavo Petro declared a national disaster for the El Niño phenomenon on July 23rd – Colombia's first such declaration linked explicitly to an electricity supply emergency – and simultaneously ordered a CoP$4T budget reallocation to the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD), bringing its total El Niño resources to CoP$8T.
Read moreA comprehensive El Heraldo analysis published July 26th, based on interviews with six sector leaders, delivers the most structured account yet of the structural failures that have placed Colombia in its most vulnerable energy position since the 1992 blackout.
Read moreColombia's electricity system enters its most exposed five-day window of 2026 on Thursday, when SPEC shuts for scheduled maintenance through August 3rd .
Read moreThe clearest articulation yet of why El Niño is simultaneously a gas crisis and an electricity crisis came from Tomás González in a recent interview with El Tiempo, in which the former Mines and Energy Minister mapped the convergence of pressures the de la Espriella government will face from day one.
Read moreOutgoing Minister Edwin Palma disclosed on July 22nd, at a Colombia Solar ceremony in Barranquilla, that the transition team coordinating the sector handover for the incoming De la Espriella government had sent the ministry an official written request to abstain from continuing to execute and expand the Colombia Solar program during the transition period.
Read morePetro's outgoing government filed its final tax reform before the new Congress on July 21st, placing the mining and energy sector at the center of fiscal controversy for the second time in four years.
Read moreThe President's Legal Secretary had several decrees in process on July 17th accepting senior official resignations, El Tiempo's Investigative Unit reported, as the outgoing Petro government entered its final three weeks.
Read moreColombia's Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Colombian Agricultural and Livestock Research Corporation (AGROSAVIA) have formalized a bilateral cooperation agreement with Thailand to develop bioenergy from agricultural and livestock waste.
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Lazard's 2026 LCOE+ benchmark says renewables remain the cheapest new-build despite rising costs across all technologies.
Read moreColombia's Ministry of Mines and Energy hosted a five-day Regional Training Course on energy demand modelling organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Bogotá in early July, bringing together specialists and representatives from 13 Latin American and Caribbean member states.
Read morePresident Gustavo Petro requested and received the resignation of Mines and Energy Minister Edwin Palma on July 17th, placing ANH president Pablo Yesid Fajardo in temporary charge of the ministry with just over three weeks left in the government.
Read moreThe day after Abelardo de la Espriella's June 21 election victory, Colombia's energy and mining sector moved quickly from congratulating the incoming president to handing him the bill.
Read moreMinister Edwin Palma sent a formal letter to the CREG expert commissioners on July 8th, publicly rebuking the regulator for failing to implement the eight regulatory measures it committed to delivering in May to protect the national interconnected system during El Niño.
Read moreColombia's 2026 Multidimensional Energy Poverty Report (IPEM) confirmed on July 8 that the share of households in energy poverty fell from 22.3% in 2024 to 20.6% in 2025 – a 1.7 percentage point reduction equivalent to 227,532 households and 641,640 people exiting energy poverty in a single year.
Read moreThe Ministry of Mines and Energy presented its final four-year electricity sector balance on July 9, framing the Petro government's legacy as a structural transformation of Colombia's generation matrix – and using the occasion to publicly condemn the de la Espriella transition team's suspension of the energy sector handover process as an act of institutional irresponsibility with direct consequences for El Niño preparedness.
Read moreColombia's Ministry of Transport published a draft resolution on July 7th establishing the country's first comprehensive national regulatory framework for light electric personal urban mobility vehicles – covering electric scooters, skateboards, monowheels, and electric bicycles – as a second public comment round under Law 2486 of 2025.
Read moreThe designation of María Nohemí Arboleda as the incoming Mines and Energy Minister received an immediate institutional welcome from the Caribbean region on July 14, when the RAP Caribe – Colombia's Caribbean regional planning body – together with the Comités Intergremiales of Atlántico, Bolívar, Magdalena, Córdoba, Cesar, and Sucre jointly issued a statement of support and put forward a structured roadmap for the incoming minister to begin addressing the Caribbean energy crisis from day one.
Read moreThe Ministry of Mines and Energy published an updated regulatory framework for the Colombia Solar program on July 2, replacing the earlier 2026 resolution with a more detailed set of technical, financial, and operational rules governing how solar photovoltaic systems are installed in strata 1, 2, and 3 households connected to the national interconnected system.
Read moreVice president-elect José Manuel Restrepo made the economic cost of Colombia's energy crisis concrete on July 12th, posting on X after a meeting with sector leaders convened by El Tiempo that a blackout under current El Niño conditions would cost the country approximately CoP$204B per hour of lost supply.
Read moreColombia's electricity service quality improved measurably in 2025, with 74.6% of municipalities meeting the regulatory standard for interruption duration per user and 80.1% meeting the frequency standard, a meaningful step forward from 2024.
Read moreFor the electricity sector, the naming of María Nohemí Arboleda Arango as Minister of Mines and Energy is the most reassuring cabinet announcement of the transition period.
Read moreColombia's incoming government faces a climate scenario that has hardened since earlier in 2026.
Read moreA legal proceeding before the Administrative Tribunal of Cundinamarca has emerged as the sector's best near-term hope for unlocking the resources needed to keep Colombia's thermal generation fleet fueled through El Niño and Natalia Gutiérrez, president of the Consejo Gremial Nacional, used a detailed X thread on July 2 to call on the Tribunal to act urgently.
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Colombia's industrial sector is paying the second-highest electricity tariff in Latin America, according to data from Asoenergía, the association representing Colombia's large industrial energy consumers.
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