In response to the potential impacts of the recent seismic event in the country, the Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission (CREG) has launched a mechanism to identify regulatory flexibility needs that will help maintain the proper provision of public utility services for electricity and natural gas in the affected areas.
Through Circular No. 328 of 2026 , issued on August 13, the CREG called on agents in the supply chain of public electricity and combustible gas services to report those situations directly associated with the seismic event that may require temporary regulatory measures.
The request is directed particularly to companies and agents that provide the service, carry out activities in the sector or have infrastructure located in the affected areas and that, as a direct consequence of the earthquake, have registered situations that may hinder the ordinary compliance with certain regulatory provisions.
Information that agents must submit
To facilitate the analysis of the reported situations, the Commission established that the agents must specifically identify the regulatory need arising from the seismic event.
Each report must specify the applicable regulatory provision and explain why the conditions created by the event necessitate a temporary relaxation of the requirements. This justification must be supported, as appropriate, by technical, operational, or commercial factors, as well as by its direct relationship to the damage caused by the earthquake.
Companies will also need to submit a proposed measure , describing the regulatory flexibility they consider necessary, the scope it would have and, where applicable, the estimated period during which it should remain in effect.
With this information, the CREG seeks to have sufficient elements to evaluate individually and sectorally the difficulties that service providers and other agents may be facing, and to establish whether these require temporary regulatory adjustments that allow them to respond to the extraordinary conditions generated by the event.
The CREG will analyze the need for and suitability of the measures
The Commission indicated that the information submitted by the agents will be reviewed within the framework of its powers, with the objective of evaluating both the need and the appropriateness of adopting temporary regulatory measures to address the circumstances arising from the seismic event.
This means that the Circular opens a stage of identifying and analyzing the needs of the sector: the measures are not adopted automatically based on the requests of the agents, but must be studied by the CREG before determining whether it is necessary to establish regulatory flexibilities and under what conditions.
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The mechanism allows regulatory decisions that may eventually be adopted to be based on concrete information about the impacts recorded on the ground and about the operational, technical or commercial difficulties faced by the companies in charge of providing the services.
Deadline for submitting information
Agents will have until August 18, 2026 to submit their communications to the Commission.
According to the Circular, the information must be sent to the CREG's institutional email address with the subject "Transitional regulatory measures seismic event" .
The call seeks to expedite the identification of situations that may require a regulatory response, especially in those cases where the impacts on infrastructure, operation or service provision may generate difficulties in fulfilling obligations under ordinary regulatory conditions.
Priority: continuity and adequate provision of services
The Commission's actions are focused on identifying regulatory instruments that may be necessary to address extraordinary situations arising directly from the seismic event and that affect the provision of public utility services for electricity and combustible gas.
In that sense, any eventual flexibility will be associated with the circumstances reported by the agents and will be subject to the analysis carried out by the CREG on its justification, scope and duration.
The Circular, therefore, constitutes an early information gathering mechanism that will allow the regulator to know firsthand the needs of the sector and determine in a timely manner whether transitional decisions are required to facilitate the response of companies and protect the continuity of service in the affected areas.
CREG Circular No. 328 of 2026 was signed by the Executive Director of the Commission, Adriana Jiménez Delgado , and is addressed to the agents in the supply chain of public electricity and combustible gas services.