Amendments to the General Regulations to the Organic Law of the Public Electricity Service

Amendments to the General Regulations to the Organic Law of the Public Electricity Service

On September 29, 2026, the President of the Republic issued Executive Decree No. 515, published in the Ninth Supplement of Official Registry No. 380 of September 30, 2026, whereby the General Regulations to the Organic Law of the Public Electricity Service (RLOSPEE) were amended.

Below is a brief summary of the most relevant amendments:

• The following definitions are incorporated into Article 3 of the RLOSPEE:

a) Regulated Contract for Complementary Services and/or Energy Storage: Those entered into between an electric company providing complementary services and/or energy storage and the electric distribution and commercialization companies, on a pro-rata basis according to their demand. Their technical and commercial conditions shall be subject to the provisions of the Regulations and the regulation issued by ARCONEL.

b) Regulated Transmission Contract: Those entered into between an electric transmission company and the electric distribution companies, whose technical and commercial conditions are governed by the Regulations and by the regulations issued by the competent regulation and control body of the electricity sector.

c) Electric company for complementary services and/or energy storage: A legal entity under public, private, or mixed ownership, authorized by means of the corresponding enabling title to provide complementary services and/or energy storage.

d) Exceptionality of works: Financing and construction scheme for public distribution and/or transmission networks carried out by electricity service applicants, customers, and/or other interested legal entities. These works are executed under construction and recognition agreements entered into with the electric distribution and/or transmission company, as applicable, which establish the technical, economic, and transfer conditions of the works.

e) 5-Year Operating Plan of the National Interconnected System: Operational energy and electricity planning of the NIS prepared by CENACE for a five-year horizon, which evaluates the operating conditions for meeting demand, considering quality, security, and efficiency criteria.

f) Complementary Services: Technical services other than the supply of electric energy, required to guarantee the security, quality, continuity, reliability, and stability of the NIS. Their provision may be carried out by generation, storage, transmission, distribution facilities, or by other technically enabled resources, in accordance with ARCONEL’s regulations and CENACE’s operational requirements.

g) Energy storage systems: A set of technologies and devices designed to capture, store, and deliver electric energy in a controlled manner to the electricity system.

Likewise, the following definitions are replaced:

a) Bilateral contract: Agreement for the purchase and sale and transportation of electric energy, as well as storage and complementary services, entered into between: (i) a generator or self-generator and a large consumer; (ii) the transmitter and a large consumer, self-generator (on behalf of its own consumption), or an Autonomous Energy District; (iii) providers of storage and/or complementary services and a large consumer or self-generator (on behalf of its own consumption); or (iv) participants authorized for the import and export of electric energy.

b) Wholesale participant in the electricity sector: A legal entity that holds an enabling title for the activity of generation, self-generation, import, export, transmission, storage, complementary services, distribution and/or commercialization of electric energy, and general public lighting. Large consumers and Autonomous Energy Districts shall also be considered wholesale participants.

c) Transmission toll: The value paid for the use of transmission lines by distributors, large consumers, Autonomous Energy Districts, self-generators for their own consumption, and other non-regulated consumers. The transmission toll may be a fixed value to cover the canon of regulated contracts or a variable value based on power and/or energy, as determined in the corresponding regulation.

d) Preferential price: Price established by regulation and guaranteed for a defined term (preferential term), which electric distribution companies must pay for the energy produced by the generation unit or plant, as well as for power, complementary services, energy storage, and/or interconnection networks, as applicable. This price will enable the execution of the project and shall be calculated in accordance with the regulations issued by ARCONEL. It may consist of a fixed component and/or a variable component; the fixed component may include updating mechanisms.

Finally, the definition of ““Commercial Management Contract for the Transmission Activity” is eliminated.

• The circumstances that trigger exceptional measures in situations of stress on the electricity system are expanded. In addition to cases of energy deficit or rationing, these now include conditions of power deficit, electrical network problems (loadability, low voltages, maintenance, unavailability of transmission or distribution network elements), contingencies, or other circumstances that may cause load disconnections. In these events, ARCONEL may issue exceptional regulations authorizing the operation of emergency generation (own or third-party) by regulated and non-regulated users, without requiring the prior opinion of the public finance governing body when no budgetary or fiscal commitments are generated. Likewise, CENACE may order the disconnection from the NIS of high-voltage tariff consumers with demand exceeding the threshold defined in the regulations. During such periods, these users must have generation systems to supply the entirety of their energy and power demand.
• The participation of public and mixed-ownership companies in generation activities is expanded, allowing those companies that have electricity generation within their corporate purpose, or as complementary activities thereto, to be authorized by the governing Ministry.
• The guidelines for the development of Non-Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE) projects included in the Electricity Master Plan (PME) are updated. Their execution is encouraged through public or private companies, popular and solidarity economy entities, consortia, associations, and foreign state-owned companies, by means of public selection processes. Awarded generators will receive, for the energy generated, the sale price established in the public selection process, for the term of the concession, through long-term power purchase agreements.

• Priority attention for obtaining the enabling title will be given to clean technology and NCRE projects with storage capacity that include interconnection networks of up to 100 MW, as well as to transition generation projects (natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, associated gas, nuclear, green hydrogen, and other low-emission technologies) of up to 100 MW that include interconnection networks to the electricity grid, in accordance with the regulations issued by the governing entity and the regulatory aspects established by ARCONEL.

• Participation in complementary services and energy storage projects is regulated. For projects included in the PME, the governing entity may grant enabling titles to public or mixed-ownership companies and, exceptionally, to private companies, popular and solidarity economy entities, or foreign state-owned companies, through public selection processes. Projects not included in the PME may be proposed by private initiative; if approved, the proponent may benefit from the preferential price and term conditions provided in the applicable regulations. In both cases, ARCONEL will define the technical and commercial conditions.

• The rules applicable to self-generation are made more flexible. It is expressly enabled that the supply of a point of own consumption may be carried out by one or more self-generators. These projects may generate energy surpluses without limitation, which may be destined to regulated demand and large consumers. ARCONEL will establish preferential conditions for surpluses produced with NCRE or transition energies, particularly regarding the price and term of sale to regulated demand.

• Self-supply by regulated consumers, large consumers, and self-generators’ own consumption is regulated, allowing the injection of energy into the distribution network and establishing charges for the use or availability of distribution and/or transmission networks.

• The figure of Autonomous Energy Districts (DAE) is developed. These may be formed by one or more natural or legal persons of private, mixed, or popular and solidarity economy capital. DAEs may install, operate, and maintain generation, local networks, storage systems, lighting, and electric vehicle charging systems within the authorized area; settle energy internally among their members; and carry out surplus or deficit transactions with the NIS under specific rules (local, remote, or mixed supply). The enabling title may be granted for a term of up to forty (40) years and will not be subject to the asset reversion regime.

• Oil or mining projects not connected to the NIS will be responsible for their own self-generation. Those connected to the NIS with a maximum demand exceeding 10 MW must install self-generation systems and supply 100% of their electricity demand. Those of up to 10 MW may opt to be regulated consumers (implementing self-supply systems) or install self-generation systems.

• Construction and recognition agreements for complementary distribution and transmission works are facilitated, allowing the participation of private, mixed, and popular and solidarity economy legal entities. When the distribution company is unable to carry out the necessary electricity expansion, customers and/or interested legal entities may execute the works, subject to prior approval and a competitive selection process, with recognition of the invested value through the billing of the service (up to 50% of the total amount billed in each consumption period).

• The rules for the settlement of commercial transactions by CENACE are updated, incorporating storage, complementary services, and energy produced in isolated or island systems.

• The order of priority for the payment of obligations arising from commercial transactions of regulated demand is reinforced. First priority shall be given to payments to private participants executing generation, transmission, distribution, storage, complementary services, and/or general public lighting projects, as well as to public companies that enter into strategic alliances or consortia with private capital participation. Preferential treatment shall be given to the popular and solidarity economy and to public companies that obtain financing for new or ongoing generation projects. Distribution companies must establish trusts with the contribution of end-user collections to ensure compliance with this order of priority.

• The rules for the application of transmission and distribution tolls are updated, and the minimum contents and conditions of regulated contracts are detailed (including fixed and/or variable charges according to the type of provider and the origin of the enabling title).

• General public lighting, ornamental lighting, and intervened lighting are regulated in greater detail. Likewise, it is established that electricity networks in subdivisions, urbanizations, and horizontal property buildings must be underground, with exceptions for rural areas, sectors lacking the necessary urban, road, or technical infrastructure, or public or social interest housing projects.

• The minimum requirements that private companies interested in proposing the development of an electricity project not included in the PME under the private initiative modality must meet are updated. The governing Ministry will now have fifteen (15) days to evaluate compliance with the requirements and, in the event of missing information, will grant the proponent a period of up to forty-five (45) days to complete it. If such information is not submitted or does not meet the established requirements, the private initiative will be archived.

• The period for the governing Ministry to call the public selection process is reduced to three (3) months, counted from the delivery by the proponent of the required studies and the favorable opinion of the public finance governing body, when the project submitted by private initiative has been declared to be of public interest.

• Within eight (8) months counted from the entry into force of the Decree, ARCONEL must issue the technical and commercial regulations required for its application. Modalities that require specific technical and commercial regulations will be applicable from the entry into force of such regulations.

• Generation plants using transition energies that obtain their enabling title within the five (5) years following the issuance of the Decree will have a minimum dispatch of 60% of the energy they can deliver at effective capacity, evaluated on a quarterly basis with annual consolidation. After the five years, the minimum dispatch percentage will be defined according to the conditions of the national electricity system.

• Within a maximum term of sixty (60) days counted from the entry into force of the Decree, ARCONEL will issue or amend the corresponding regulation to establish the updating mechanism for the fixed component of the preferential price, applicable to NCRE generation projects with a nominal capacity greater than 10 MW and up to 100 MW, and to transition generation projects of up to 100 MW. Projects that have initiated proceedings under preferential price regulations in force as of the date of the Decree may continue with such proceedings and benefit from the prices established therein.

These reforms seek to strengthen legal certainty, facilitate private investment, promote storage, complementary services, and self-generation, and incorporate figures such as Autonomous Energy Districts, in a context of the need for new generation and greater reliability of the electricity system.

At LASPINA LEGAL we are closely monitoring the technical and commercial regulations that ARCONEL will issue for the proper application of these reforms.

If your company develops or plans to develop projects in the Ecuadorian electricity sector, we invite you to contact us to jointly analyze the scope of these provisions and their concrete implications for your business!