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GESA-ENDESA plans to spend 12'242'000 euros on high and medium tension networks in the Balearics to guarantee electricity supplies and meet the growing demand, but plans are being held up by lack of permits. The situation is said to be so serious that the electricity company is refusing to accept new susbcribers in Artà and Capdera in Majorca and Santa Eulalia in Ibiza, in order to guarantee the quality of supply to existing users. It has been writing to would-be new customers in these areas, informing them that first of all they need approval for improvements to the infrastructures. The company has criticised the attitude of some councils, saying that they have failed to understand that urban growth has to be matched by licences for industrial installations such as those needed by the electricity firms. Some municipalities such as Llucmajor are oversaturated. The company said that demand had grown spectacularly in ten municipalities: by more than 50 per cent over the past five years. GESA-ENDESA plans to build two electricity substations in the Balearics, one in Capdepera at a cost of 5.68 million euros, and one in Ibiza at a cost of 5.07 euros. They will transform high tension energy from the power stations into medium tension for distribution to consumers. There are also shortages in the medium tension network, and the electricity company has 18 projects lined up for reforming existing lines or building new ones, but it cannot go ahead without permits. However, the Balearic government has criticised GESA for not anticipating its needs, adding that its plans are difficult to approve as they often involve more than one municipality at a time. In reply, a company spokesman said that the huge increase in demand for electricity could not have been predicted. He said that its investment plans had been modified and adapted to cope with the increase in needs, adding that councils and government should speed up paper work.