CentroSur Electricity Service
The Ins and Outs of Electric Service in Cuenca

If you live in Cuenca, CentroSur electricity service is your only option. And there's a defined set of steps and several documents you need in order to apply for service.

If you rent, the service will be in your landlord's name. You'll have electricity included in your rent, or you'll have to pay the bill every month.

Required Documents

Here's what you need in the way of documentation:

• A copy of your cédula (both sides of it) and your voting certificate (as an expat, you can probably get away without the voting certificate).
• A copy of all the documents at the property registry regarding your house or condo.
• The exact location of your property, or a sketch of it. The sketch needs to be accurate enough that office staff and technicians/installers can find your home. If you bought a townhouse (villa) or you live in a gated community, you need to bring a plan of the subdivision (lotización).
• If there's an existing service (you didn't buy a new house or condo), you need the number of the meter. If you can read the amount used, take that too.
• A note stating that you'll be using the electricity for residential uses (of course, if you own a store or restaurant, tell them it's for commercial uses).

Here's What Happens

After you ask for service, the following steps occur:

1. Within 2 work days in the city (5 if you live in a rural area covered by CentroSur electricity service), company personnel will visit your building to verify that they can provide service to your house, including that the electric service is available to your home, and that your home is properly wired for electricity.
• If your home is not properly wired or doesn't have the required protections, the inspector will indicate the changes that have to be made.
• Once they're made, call CentroSur at 07-2872700 to ask for an inspector to return and check everything again.
2. You sign a contract with CentroSur, settling any previous bills in your name, and any in the previous owner's name (if applicable). So be sure that you receive money from the previous owner, or that you include something in your sales contract indicating that you can deduct that amount from your final purchase payment.
3. You pay the required deposit, which will be returned (minus any amounts you owe) to you when the service is terminated.
4. If no supply network work needs to be performed, your new electric service will be turned on within 4 work days in the city (7 work days in a rural area).
• If work has to be done to add your home to the network, it will be completed within 15 work days (5 work days if you purchase and supply the equipment—note that this generally applies to industrial and commercial installations).
• If there's no network in your area (in other words, the electric system doesn't reach your house yet), CentroSur will begin work to wire your house to the network. That will take 10-15 work days, after a study to determine the possibility of providing the service.
• You must pay for the costs of extending the network. If you cancel your service after the network extension work starts, your deposits are not returned.
• If work on the new service will inconvenience others with electrical outages, you must have written authorization from everyone who will be inconvenienced.
5. CentroSur has the right to deny service to anyone with outstanding obligations to the company. (See #2, above.)

The bottom line is this: ensure that there's electrical service to your house (especially one in a rural area) before you sign a purchase contract for it. You don't want to be saddled with the headaches and costs of adding your new home to the CentroSure electricity service network.

Costs and Payments

Your CentroSur service also includes a charge for public lighting (street and park lighting) and a charge for garbage collection. You'll also subsidize (it's a very small fee) the energy costs of those who are poor and can't afford electricity otherwise.

As mentioned above, you won't receive a bill. If your bank allows online bill payment, you could just pay enough to cover your expected cost each month, and not worry about going to a payment location.

If you can't pay online, you'll need to visit your bank/credit union (if your branch takes payments), a CentroSur payment location or a third-party payment office.

Summary

The above may make it sound like having electricity in your house or condo isn't worth the headaches. But much of the above is a worst-case scenario of which we want you to be aware.

The CentroSur electricity service is a reliable and inexpensive service (the cheapest electricity in Ecuador apparently) that will make your life more comfortable and much more enjoyable, once the bureaucratic headaches are dealt with.

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