«Leeches» in the electrical network: the crisis in the Buenos-Aires suburbs

Denis Guigo
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Denis Guigo: CRG - Centre de recherche en gestion - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LAU - Laboratoire d'anthropologie urbaine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Nearly all the inhabitants of Buenos Aires and its suburbs (Argentina) have electridty, but in most of the suburban neighborhoods, many of the users are illegally connected to the electrical wires which pass near their houses: these are the "leeches" in the network (/os co/gados) . Following an ethnological study carried out in 1987 on the Buenos Aires electric company (SEGBA), this article presents the measures which have been taken to deal with energy fraud, and analyses modifications which have resulted in the operational logic of SEGBA and its interaction with customers. Territorial development in the areas concerned is also taken into consideration. Our purpose here is to try to elaborate an overall vision of the electrical company, taking into account the social context of the urban milieu and an institutional infrastructure which gives little autonomy to public enter· prises. The combined material here presented leads to a reflection on the relationship to nonns, in the urban milieu and within the company.

Keywords: Anthropology : organisations; engineering sciences :electricity; Buenos Aires (Argentine) : informal networks; Ethnologie: organisations; sciences de l'ingénieur : électricité; Buenos Aires (Argentine); réseaux informels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1990
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Published in Flux - Cahiers scientifiques internationaux Réseaux et territoires, 1990, 1, pp.57-76

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