With the energy outages continuing over the past week, due to low hydro electricity reserves, many people are beginning to call for the privatization of the energy sector, or at least allow private companies to operate alongside the current government run department. It has also been said, that should the government continue to preserve the monopoly status over the energy business, that a large amount of money needs to be injected in order to bring it up to standard to cope with the extra demand now placed on them due to Panama's decision to stop selling their energy to Costa Rica.

President Oscar Arias himself agreed with the views of much of the population and stated that he believed that years of neglect is the reason for the current energy crisis, and that in order to improve the state owned operations, private sector energy production needs to allowed. This will not only reduce the load on the state owned power production units, giving them time to fix, upgrade and add to their system, but will also give them reason to do it, because if they don't they will lose their customers to the private companies. It all looks like a win win situation to many people. However it is not totally the fault of the electricity company, yes they are partly to blame, but a major factor in the low energy reserves is the low water levels for their hydro plants to operate with. This was due to the unusually dry, dry season, causing water levels to be significantly lower than previous years, meaning that less energy could be produced through the hydro plants, placing more emphasis on other sources such as the governments thermal plants, to pick up the slack.

It has been estimated that Costa Rican businesses have lost around $20 Million since the energy blackouts began, and if this were left, losses could rise to over $400 Million in 2 years. Although one industry that has benefited is that of generators. A spokesperson from one of the main generator production companies in Costa Rica stated that they were currently operating at full capacity, and that they were probably the only business enjoying these blackouts.

Small businesses, such as smaller hotels have suffered greatly, as many cannot afford to buy expensive generators, meaning that they have often been left totally in the dark, with their guests not being able to use any of the facilities. This could have a negative long term affect, with people being put off returning to the country.

However, it is hoped that increasing the role of private electricity generating companies will ease to load off the government sector and end the rationing that has been enforced over the past week. It is now down to the government to show the public that they are working on fixing this problem and that they have the situation under control.

This weekend, the people of San Jose, were treated to a great show by the Red bull Formula 1 team. They took to the streets in their hi tech cars to put on a show of "auto acrobatics." The skilled drivers demonstrated a variety of moves, spins, slides and more which wowed the crowd and provided real entertainment.

This visit, however, had a serious note to it as well. The team were not here just to show off what they can do in their cars, but to promote a message to young drivers in Costa Rica. They were promoting the importance of safe and sensible driving, and told the kids to leave the fast driving and fancy moves to them on the worlds race circuits. Hopefully this message will be well received and less accidents involving youngsters will be reduced in the future!