Calls Persist to Move Colombia’s Clocks Forward to Face the Temperatures Ahead
One of the people who has proposed moving the clocks forward in Colombia, in order to face the high temperatures that are approaching as a result of the El Nino phenomenon, is the governor of Antioquia, Andres Julian Rendon. One of the most recent times he did so was last month during the commemoration of the Cry of Independence at the Toyo Tunnel (road to the sea).
There, at the end of his speech, the regional leader made a proposal that caused surprise: “It is necessary to move the clocks forward by one hour to take advantage of natural light during the peak hours of demand between six and nine at night,” he said, based on an idea from Sociedad Hidroituango, which considers that this measure could generate savings close to 2% of national energy demand and modify consumption habits with effects of between 2% and 7%.
“We have to move the clocks forward and return to Gaviria time”
The governor has said that he presented the initiative to President Abelardo de la Espriella and that the president has taken note of the concerns and is very willing to study preventive decisions to avoid crises in the country. But De la Espriella, after taking office, had to devote himself fully to addressing the emergency resulting from the August 10 earthquake, in addition to the fires occurring in different regions of the country, and the public order and security situation.
For that reason, Rendon insists. In recent hours, he once again proposed returning the country to Gaviria time, a colloquial name used to refer to the administration of former President Cesar Gaviria (1990-1994), during whose term a blackout occurred and clocks in Colombia had to be moved forward by one hour. After some time, the country returned to normal.
“We have to move the clocks forward and return to Gaviria time. I am a defender of that under these circumstances. We are overdue in doing so,” Rendon said in Semana magazine. “I do not know what other consideration that we do not know about the minister of Mines may have, who is a woman who knows the sector very well, but we proposed that to the president and we proposed creating a market for energy savings.”
Sociedad Hidroituango also asked President De la Espriella, before he took office, to immediately install a technical committee to define measures against the risk of a blackout in Colombia due to the arrival of El Nino. The idea was for the new government to have an already agreed-upon roadmap and not have to react when the drought had already hit the system.
“We are under technical rationing”
One of its proposals is to move the country’s clocks forward by one hour to shift nighttime consumption and make better use of natural light. The initiative was promoted by the manager of Sociedad Hidroituango, Alejandro Arbelaez Arango, after the president-elect announced the creation of a working space with actors from the energy sector.
Three days ago, former Minister of Mines and Energy Amylkar Acosta raised the alarms again: “We are under technical rationing,” he said after learning recent data from XM, the operator of the electricity market in Colombia, regarding 304 circuit disconnection instructions to prevent a collapse.
Acosta’s warning came in parallel with XM’s Energy Bulletin No. 356, as of August 21, in which it confirms that the National Interconnected System (SIN) entered a critical phase, with the Caribbean region as the epicenter and with Bogota, Cundinamarca, Meta and Guaviare under alert for the coming months.
XM analysts are concerned about the true magnitude of the El Nino phenomenon. There is a 95% probability that it will reach a “very strong” category between October and December 2026, the most critical quarter for the electricity system.
Month by month, that probability moves between 90% and 95% throughout the second half of the year. Thus, the figures measuring sea temperature confirm it. For example, the thermal anomaly in the Pacific region known as Nino 3.4 has already exceeded 2.5 degrees Celsius on a weekly average.