MEPs approved reform of the law on the electricity sector by AMLO

Although the opposition accused of not having been allowed to participate in the discussion on reform of the Electricity Industry Act, this was approved in general and in particular with 22 votes for and 10 against; the initiative proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador which calls for the use of fossil fuels will go to the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Deputies for the relevant effects.

Due to the health contingency due to COVID-19, the meeting of San Lázaro Energy Commission did not allow entry of all lawmakersConsequently, the opposition alleged that Morena, the dominant bench, had blocked their way.

MPs said they took advantage of the context of the pandemic not to let them in, in addition they accused of not having been allowed to participate to make changes at the initiative of the electricity industry.

At the start of the session, the Vice-President of the Commission, Manuel Rodríguez González, from Morena, indicated that only 60 MPs would be allowed to access compliance with health measures. He asked others to they will connect remotely (despite being in the Legislature) to participate, that they left their cameras on all the time and only turned on their microphones when it was their turn to speak.

As the meeting progressed, opposition participants stressed that they were not allowed to interact properly, in addition to the fact that the arguments presented by Morena went against the Mexicans.

They also accused that the duration of the interventions was arbitrarily limited for lawmakers from parties other than the dominant bloc.

Enrique Ochoa Reza, PRI deputy, He pointed out that not all speakers take the floor, that not all distant lawmakers are required to speak, in addition to participation limitations such as interruptions of opposition speakers or transmission failures. left no room for an adequate discussion of the reform.

“It’s unfortunate because this was the opportunity they had to show a high level of vision and fair treatment to all lawmakers as we were offered. […] the opinion did not integrate the arguments developed nor the open parliament, contrary to the meaning of the preferential initiativeNor was the Federal Commission for Economic Competition accepted, which duly transmitted to the Energy Commission and its members of the Board of Directors the essential arguments they observed, nor that those responsible for CREM or Prices that it is the authorities who will operate a large part of the changes put in place in this initiative, we don’t even listen to your point of view or your technical analysis. The use of recurring qualifiers has been authorized by the board of directors, while this has never been the tone of the energy committees, let’s say it is an exercise that leaves a lot to be desired. They let it become a circus and theater dress exercise, I think it was unfortunate», He assured.

Him too PAN Deputy, Justino Arriaga Rojas, He regretted that the discussion on the reform had been limited to the majority in plenary, because the voices of experts and representatives could not be heard.

In addition, he urged the Morenoites to listen to all those who on this occasion did not allow to speak during the session of the following week, during which they will return to the subject to present their reservations to the reform.

For her part, PRI legislator Soraya Pérez Munguía underlined that the reform “aims to eliminate the wholesale electricity market, now totally liberalized, to return the monopoly to the CFE”.

López Obrador’s reform project raises modifications and additions to 9 articles of the Electricity Industry Law.

The project plans to force the Energy Regulatory Commission to revoke self-supply permits for private companies whose only interest in producing energy, supposedly, is to use it for themselves. In other words, to produce energy without the intention of selling it.

According to the reform project, the energy reform has enabled, in the case of self-sufficiency, private companies benefit third parties who obtained electrical energy outside the scope of the law.

It will change one of the provisions of the 2013 energy reform according to which basic service providers grant electricity coverage contracts exclusively by auction. According to the document, This mechanism favors private investments to the detriment of the CFE and it jeopardizes the energy supply, since Basic Service Providers are forced to obtain it from “clean intermittent wind and photovoltaic energies”. So the reform will eliminate the obligation of these auctions.

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