The way it is worded constitutional reform to energy to be discussed in Congress from next week, the 54% share of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) in power generation could increase to 100% as it is considered a strategic good, so experts called for a more detailed review of what is being approved, without leaving out the human rights perspective to address access to electricity in Mexico.
During the Forum 15 of the Open Parliament of the electrical reformMiguel Ángel Marmolejo Cervantes, from the Faculty of Law and Criminology of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, explained that Article 28 considers electricity as a strategic asset in charge of the CFE, which will carry out all activities without monopoly quality, therefore that 54% will remain a dead letter if it is necessary to expand its generation, which will be a strategic asset that is above the others.
“This means that the obligation of competence will not be applicable to the CFE, in any sense, leaving a body with more functions than it can and should perform,” he asserted.
In addition, he explained that of the 21 transitory ones with which the 2013 reform was sought to land, the initiative of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to modify articles 25, 27 and 28 of the Constitution inadvertently reduces the implementation in nine transitory ones, repealing not only the previous ones, but rather the entire scaffolding of existing norms and provisions, with which a lack of orderly transition is appreciated and creates uncertainty, for which reason the legislature is asked to carry out an exercise of coherence.
Meanwhile, Nancy Jiménez Camacho, head of the Legal Office of the CFE Intermediation of Legacy Contracts, explained that electricity must have a human rights perspective as a legal and human right protected by the State, as set forth in the United Nations Charter. , in the basic international right to equipped housing and even in Article 1 of the Constitution that grant unrestricted and uncancellable rights for all the people in Mexico.
“That is why it is convenient to have a solid public company that puts rights first, with the responsibility of not transgressing the needs of the people, coexisting with private parties,” he assured.
In turn, Alejandro Faya, commissioner of the Federal Economic Competition Commission, said that competition is not an end in itself or the only objective on the table, and that the best economies in the world combine market elements with the leadership of the Condition.
“Nothing justifies going back to a model that has been abandoned throughout the world due to technological progress, more sophisticated systems of governance and division of powers, neither rates, nor the participation of the CFE, and this initiative is what it seeks,” he asserted.
In favor of the proposal, Mario Eduardo Díaz Ocheita, coordinator of Economic Studies of the Corporate Directorate of Strategic Planning of the CFE, explained that the power market was designed to indicate where there are deficits for investment and does not reflect the real costs of the energy that last year closed at zero, with which there was practically no remuneration from private companies for the CFE, which supported intermittent generation as backup but with its variable costs for fuel use, its true price was not taken into account.
For his part, Enoch Castellanos, national president of the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry (Canacintra) said that today the energy generated through long-term auctions and that of independent energy producers (PIE) is at the expense and expense of the CFE, and so it can continue, because already there is preponderance of the national company and stewardship of the State in the laws, and therefore, there are other issues that it considers to be more relevant in the discussion.
For example, today it is said that the country has a reserve of between 15% and 20% of energy, which is low and therefore these margins must be reviewed because what is at stake is that the national production plant.
In addition, other issues such as the development of microgrids, distributed generation, smart grids, carbon capture storage and cogeneration were left out of the proposal, he said.
Mario Morales Vielmas, general director of CFE Intermediation of Legacy Contracts, reiterated that 4,250 injunctions have been granted by business chambers, energy associations, companies and Cofece itself.
“Today there is nothing that can be done if the Constitution is not changed to guarantee the stewardship of the State in electricity for the future,” he asserted.