Venezuela's electric grid was once the envy of Latin America. The Guri Dam, completed in 1986, was one of the world's largest hydroelectric plants, and the nation's grid reached 96 percent of households by the early 2000s. Today, after more than two decades of socialist rule, hours-long outages are routine in Venezuela. Blackouts disable water pumps, cellular service, electronic payments, and hospital equipment. The independent National Hospital Survey reported 233 deaths from 2019 through 2021 attributable to electrical failures, including patients who lost mechanical ventilation or could not reach operating rooms because elevators stopped. In March 2019, a nationwide blackout lasted roughly a week, provoking widespread looting and property destruction. By 2025, just 10 percent of households reported having no routine electricity interruptions.
The Venezuelan regime is now reversing the 19-year-old decision to nationalize the industry, which caused the system's rapid breakdown. The regime-controlled National Assembly has given initial approval to a bill that would open the electricity sector to private investment. The reform would allow private capital to participate in generation, transmission, distribution, and commercialization. However, the Energy Ministry would grant concessions, set rates, supervise operators, and retain broad intervention powers. Licenses could last up to 25 years, with a possible 15-year extension given to public-private companies. The bill's text is contradictory about what would happen to private investment capital once a license expires. The bill doesn't guarantee currency conversion, profit repatriation, state payment security, neutral arbitration, or an independent regulator, and it's unclear whether foreign investors will be willing to risk their capital to repair the nation's broken grid and power plants.
