In 2005, Venezuela had 22.1 gigawatts of installed generating capacity. In 2005, the country generated 99.2 billion kilowatthours (Bkwh) of electricity, while consuming 73.4 Bkwh. The country generated 74.3 Bkwh of hydroelectricity in 2005, representing 75 percent of total electricity generation that year. Venezuela is a net exporter of electricity, with the majority of exports sent to Brazil and smaller amounts going to Colombia.

Large, state-owned companies dominate the electricity sector in Venezuela. The largest company is Electrificacion del Caroni (EDELCA), a subsidiary of the state-owned mining company Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG); EDELCA supplies around three-quarters of Venezuela’s total electricity supply. There is a high degree of vertical integration within the electricity sector, with the largest generating companies also acting as the largest distributors. OPSIS is the principle government agency responsible for regulating the sector and managing Venezuela’s national transmission grid.

In 2007, Venezuela nationalized La Electricidad de Caracas (EDC), majority-owned by U.S.-based AES. EDC had been the largest private electricity generator in the country, supplying around one-tenth of the country’s total electricity supply.

Hydroelectricity provides the bulk of Venezuela’s electricity supply. The Caroni River in Guayana state is the center of the country’s hydro production. EDELCA operates the 8,900-megawatt (MW) Guri (Raul Leoni) facility on the Caroni, the second-largest hydroelectric plant in the world, after Itaipu on the Paraguay/Brazil border (once fully operational, China’s Three Gorges Dam will be larger than both of these). EDELCA also operates the 2,900-MW Macagua and the 2,200-MW Caruachi facilities, both on the Caroni. EDELCA is currently building a fourth plant on the Caroni, the 2,200-MW Tocoma dam, with scheduled completion in 2010.

Natural gas powers around one-half of the conventional thermal electricity generation in Venezuela, followed by fuel oil and diesel. There has been increasing investment in conventional thermal capacity as a means to reduce reliance upon hydropower and utilize domestic hydrocarbon resources. PdVSA announced in 2005 that it would spend $500 million to build three thermal plants in northern Venezuela. CADEFE plans to build two power plants at refineries in the country: one at Puerto La Cruz, the other at Paraguana. In late 2004, CADEFE also stated that it was studying the feasibility of building Venezuela’s first coal-fired power plant, a 300-MW facility in Tachira state, in cooperation with Russia’s Energoprom.