PORTUGUESE COMMUNIST PARTY

Parliamentary Group

Draft Resolution No 57 /XI/1.

Realization of Audits on interruptions in the supply of electrical energy arising from the temporal occurred in the

West Region on the December 23, 2009 and Resarcement of the damage verified

1.No past day December 23, 2009 occurred a temporal, with rainfall and high intensity winds, causing widespread destruction of various elements of the transmission and distribution networks of electric energy in high and low voltage of electrical energy in the West Region (concelhos of Torres Vedras, Lourinhã, Cadaval and Alenquer), and the consequent interruption of supply, which has remained in some cases up to the days 28 and December 29. The damage arising from such prolonged interruptions in the supply of electrical energy to companies, particularly in the agricultural sector, and other users are valued at millions of euros. Damages that add to those of EDP, owner and responsible for the supply of electrical energy, arising from the damage of equipment, costs of the intervention operations and replenishment of the networks and many other material damage; 2. Face to serious situation created for citizens, companies and many public services, very diverse and contradictory opinions have been issued, which can be synthesized in 4 plans: (i) The state of maintenance of the infrastructure of the electric power supply, referring to the insufficiency of the investments of modernization of equipment and of the conservation operations carried out in recent years, which have determined the fragility and vulnerability of networks and equipment, "facilitating" the action with which the temporal has made them inoperative; (ii) The non-actuation by EDP of the prevention measures recommended and necessary in the face of the "Orange Alert" enacted by the National Civil Protection Authority; (ii) The delay in the response of the company, EDP, to the reposition of the conditions of operation of the networks, by insufficient mobilization of means or availability of capacity for assistance and repair in exceptional situations such as verified, leading to the excessive prolongation of the interruptions in supply, for many hours and days; (iii) The responsibility for the ressaration of the damage verified, intrinsically linked to the previous issues, intending to EDP ward off liminally any possibility to assume these charges.

2

3.A situation that has been in the West-zone, and its consequences in the supply of electric power, made it even more apparent, if this was necessary, the essentiality of that good for the present societies. We do not know or we can live without electric power! Caring for and ensuring that the supply of that essential good will proceed in continuity and conditions of reliability and proper physical and economic access and in a universal way, it is certainly a central incumbent of any state, which implies:-the existence of producing centres and permanently capable and dimensioned networks for a growing consumption,-an adequate responsiveness, to cope with exceptional situations such as ruptures / destructions of the infrastructure of production / transporte/distribution of electrical energy, arising from natural calamities and other, replenishment of supply in the "reasonable time". The problems checked in the West are thus a good opportunity for the Portuguese country and state to assess the conditions of safety and reliability in which the electricity supply in Portugal is being processed, with the scrutiny and clearance of the state of the networks, the readiness of the responsiveness of the companies responsible and simultaneously clarify the civilian responsibilities of the damage incurred in those circumstances. In the face of the above-reported considerations, pursuant to Article 156 (b) of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and (b) of Article 4 (1) of the Rules, the Assembly of the Republic recommends the Government, which through the Ministries and Secretaries of State with tutelage on the problems referred to, namely, the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Development, the Ministry of Finance and the State Secretariat of the Local Administration / Presidency of the Council of Ministers, take the necessary initiatives to carry out an Audit on the problems of electric power supply in the West Region arising from the time-verified time on December 23, 2009, which must be completed within 90 days of from the date of the publication of the Despacho and which appoint Commission to the effect, which shall take into account the following references: 1.A appointed Commission, in addition to the representatives of the ministries shall count in its composition with representatives of Faculties and Schools of Engineering, Order of Engineers, National Association of Technical Engineers, Portuguese Association of Safety and Civil Protection Technicians (AsproCivil) National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP), Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection (DECO), National Civil Protection Authority, Institute of Meteorology, Institute of Insurance of Portugal; 2.A Commission shall carry out a wide hearing of entities and institutions, public and private, of the most stricken areas, namely, municipal chambers and freguesia joints, business associations, professionals and union of the companies involved

3

in the distribution and work of conservation and repair and the Energy Services Regulatory Entity (ERSE); 3.A Commission shall respond, among others to the following orders of issues: (i) The state of the networks and other infrastructure of the supply of electrical energy before the climateric accident, the assessment of the quantitative and qualitative level of the conservation and repair works, the teams and the human resources and EDP materials dedicated to those functions, the investments made in the last 5 years, ascertaining the responsibilities of that "state" in the size and severity of damage occurred; must be evaluated in concrete: -the capacity of the area of preservation and repair of EDP avarias Distribution in the provision of essential services 24 hours a day, namely of pickets, maintenance and dispatching teams of medium and low voltage (today to operate with 1 shift instead of the 2 previously existing ones);-the framework of the hiring of service companies, which after the privatization of the company were replaced in a process of "outsourcing" services, the employees ' own teams of the EDP itself, in many of those maintenance and repair functions; the technical and professional conditions of those companies for the provision of the services contracted by EDP; (ii) The reasons for the non-actuation of the prevention measures by EDP, if this has been verified, provided for by the regulatory procedures, in the face of the "Orange Alert" decreed by the National Civil Protection Authority; (iii) The conditions under which the EDP response has been processed in the reposition of the operation of the networks, evaluation of the response time and its compliance with the current regulatory requirements, means mobilized, ascertaining the reasonableness or not of these conditions in the face of the exceptional situation ascertained, with the possible indication of recommendations to be taken into account by preventing similar situations; (iv) The problem of civil liabilities, if they exist, in the ressaration of the private and public damage arising from the accident, ascertaining of the unupdating or not of the current legal framework, the capacity / inability of the current insurance systems, with possible indication of recommendations. In particular, the current quality indicators of the service (regulations of electricity distribution operators) should be assessed, with the corresponding proposed change judgements required and the legal framework of the current concessions Protocoladas between municipalities and EDP for the downside distribution; (v) The correlation between the current economic and financial management of EDP and the corresponding strategic choices in a private company logic, and its obligations to provide essential public service that is the supply of electric power to the Country.

4

4. The Report with its findings and recommendations, in addition to its use by the Government for the convenient purposes, should be sent to the Assembly of the Republic which will look at it in the relevant parliamentary committees and take the judgements suitable.

Assembly of the Republic, January 20, 2010

The Deputies,

AUGUSTINE LOPES; MIGUEL TIAGO; BERNARDINO SOARES; JERONIMO DE SOUSA; JORGE MACHADO; RITA RATO; JOÃO OLIVEIRA; BRUNO DIAS; PAULA SANTOS;

ANTÓNIO FILIPE; JOSÉ SOEIRO; HONORIUS NEW