CNEL reforms its coercive execution regulations to collect electricity debts

The Strategic Public Electric Company National Electricity Corporation (CNEL EP) reformed the Regulation for the Exercise of the Power of Coactive Execution, the administrative procedure that allows it to forcibly collect debts for electric energy and public lighting services. The reform was issued through Resolution No. CNEL-CNEL-2026-0088-RE, signed in Guayaquil on August 7, 2026, by the general manager, Eng. Jenny Alexandra Desiderio Apraez, and published in Official Registry No. 365 on Wednesday, September 9, 2026.

The company’s coactive power is based on Article 43 of the Organic Law of Public Electric Energy Service, which grants coactive jurisdiction to distribution and marketing companies for the collection of electric service debts. CNEL EP, created by Executive Decree No. 1459 on March 13, 2013, exercises this faculty in accordance with the Organic Administrative Code, and the reform updates its internal regulation to strengthen portfolio recovery.

New definitions and organization of the coactive area

The reform incorporates key definitions that organize the collection management, including the pre-coactive stage (prior voluntary collection), the assigned portfolio, the coactive file, documentary management, procedural impulse, procedural inactivity, management indicators, and the risk of prescription. The figure of the Internal Coactive Secretary is also created, a company employee who, exceptionally and temporarily, may support the substantiation of procedures, without this implying the delegation of coactive power or generating additional remuneration.

• The Collection Employee acts as the executing body of the coactive power.
• The Coactive Secretaries may be internal or external, under the direction of the Collection Employee.
• The Directorate of Collection and Portfolio Management coordinates management at a national level and issues guidelines and indicators.
• It is prohibited to appoint individuals to the processes who have a labor link or kinship up to the fourth degree of consanguinity with the debtors.

Notifications, attachments, and payment order

The reform regulates electronic notification, which will be subsidiary in nature and will only proceed when personal, slip, and press notifications have been exhausted, being understood as served at 00:00 hours of the business day following its sending. Furthermore, the order of priority for recovered values is established: first interest, then principal, procedural expenses and costs, and other values.

• Securities deposited in accounts linked to the Unified Child Support Pension System (SUPA) and remunerations may not be seized.
• Seizure shall only proceed regarding the surplus, subject to documentary verification.
• The burden of proving the protected origin of the funds shall correspond to the party subject to the coercive collection process.

Fees and selection of external secretaries

A fee schedule is established for the External Coactive Secretaries, calculated based on the value effectively recovered and deposited into the company’s accounts:

• From 0.01 to 50,000 USD: 10% of the amount collected.
• From 50,000.01 to 100,000 USD: 8%.
• From 100,000.01 to 200,000 USD: 6%.
• From 200,000.01 onwards: 5%.

As an incentive, the external secretary may receive up to an additional 1% when the management pertains to a portfolio with an age equal to or greater than five years. Selection will be carried out through a public call disseminated on the institutional website, with requirements such as a law degree registered with SENESCYT, a minimum of four years of experience, and at least two years in coactive management. Performance evaluation will be based on 100 points, with 60% for procedural impulse, 35% for collection, and 5% for the submission of reports.

Control of deadlines and validity

The reform imposes deadlines to prevent the paralysis of collections: assigned procedures must be reviewed and advanced within a maximum of 15 days from their receipt, and no file may remain without action for more than six months, unless justified. Unjustified procedural inactivity shall constitute a serious breach of management. The resolution entered into force upon its issuance, without prejudice to its publication in the Official Registry.

The reform strengthens the capacity of CNEL EP to recover the energy debt portfolio, a mechanism that directly affects millions of electric service users in the country, while introducing deadline controls, transparency in the selection of professionals, and protection of non-seizable funds such as child support pensions and remunerations.

Source: Official Registry of Ecuador, Year II, No. 365, Quito, September 9, 2026, p. 54 (official reference: Resolution No. CNEL-CNEL-2026-0088-RE).