While much of New York City and Westchester remain 'dark' thanks to Sandy; it seems across the pond, the government of Valencia has gone dark due to stupidity. As El Economista reports [6], several departments of the Generalitat Valenciana have remained without power Tuesday after a power cut ordered by Gas Natural Fenosa, trading company that supplies electricity to the regional administration. The reason, well it's not clear, but reading between the lines of the comments of one politician "disastrous [government] policy has left the box empty so there's no point to pay for electricity," suggests a combination of lack of funding and a need to 'bite one's own nose off to spite the face'. The 'incomprehensible and inconceivable' temporary cessation of power has apparently been restored - after the government 'satisfied payments to the company'. Perhaps this anecdotal snafu explains why Spanish bonds have been bleeding higher in yield when all we hear from talking heads is that all is well - and deficits will be better next year.
Via El Economista (via Google Translate) [6]:
Several departments of the Generalitat Valenciana have remained without power Tuesday after a power cut ordered by Gas Natural Fenosa, trading company that supplies electricity to the regional administration, "according to internal procedures developed under the Procurement Act Public Administration, "according to a statement from the company, which needs no further detail about the reason for the decision
The outage, Gas Natural Fenosa ordered and executed by the distributor, Iberdrola, has occurred around noon in units of the Departments of Agriculture and Justice and Social Welfare and the Valencia Library , all in the city of Valencia .
In the afternoon, Gas Natural Fenosa has explained in the statement that, once "resolved" the situation, which has been "in constant contact" with the regional administration, Iberdrola has asked you reset it .
Sources familiar with the situation have pointed to Europa Press that the decision was a result of the default of the Consell , but has not been encrypted much is your debt to Gas Natural Fenosa.
Gas Natural Fenosa has limited the court to "a few non-essential points of the Government", and has stated that it has been a "temporary cessation" of supply . The company says it has taken the decision to ask the outage Iberdrola "according to internal procedures prepared under the Procurement Law Public Administration" and adds that, having resolved the situation, is proceeding to ask distributor to service recovery.
As confirmed from the Generalitat, the units have run out of light have been the headquarters of Agriculture, Social Welfare and the Valencian Library, located in the Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes, but did not specify the reasons for the suspension of Service.
In the case of the cultural institution, administration sources have pointed to Europa Press that has a backup generator to keep the storage conditions of the incunabula, able to provide service for a day and a half.
In Health no cut
The deputy Corts EUPV in Marina Albiol, in a statement, had alerted midmorning "threats" of power outages in the Department of Health and lamented that "the disastrous policy" PP "has left the empty box to the having no point to pay for electricity. "
In this case, sources consulted by Europa Press has explained that a senior member of this administration had asked officials to turn off the computer because it was proceeding to a power outage and have ensured that Iberdrola technicians have tried to access the site of the Department, but have not been allowed access . Sources of the Government have denied that these units have been affected by the cuts.
Library Service to Valencia was restored in the morning while the Government was confident that throughout the day is one hundred percent to remedy the supply in the other units. Sources have confirmed past Consell 17.00 he had recovered the service.
"Incomprehensible and inconceivable"
The Regional Minister of Finance and Public Administration, José Manuel Vela, said through a statement that "the power cuts made ??today by Gas Natural Fenosa (GNF) in some departments of the Generalitat are incomprehensible and inconceivable."
The councilor pointed out that the Government has made ??payments of amounts accrued GNF to December 31, 2011 during the month of July, through the Provider Payment Plan.
It has also indicated that "during the months of September and October, as planned, the Government has satisfied the additional payments to the company."
"Do not know the reason for this measure absolutely excessive and GNF expect the Valencian Apologize , offer a coherent explanation for the Generalitat and reconsider the irreparable damage caused picture today, "said the minister.
Finally, Vela has indicated that the "Consell regrets this unjust action and expected to respond to mere trade policy reasons and not to other interests now know. "