Lawmaker warns Mexico's power reform won't pass without overhaul

A key opposition lawmaker in Mexico warned that constitutional reforms to the electric power sector will not pass as proposed, adding that ongoing congressional panels to discuss the matter would have to result in significant changes.

Rubén Moreira, lower house coordinator for opposition party PRI, called on the ruling Morena party to drop the ideological burden in the debate. “If an alternative to all this is not achieved, or it is not shown that the reform is required, then there will not be a vote” on the floor of the lower house, he said in an interview late Monday with the congressional broadcast channel. 

To change the constitution, proponents must secure the support of two-thirds of members present during a vote in both houses of congress. Morena has 279 votes in the lower house but needs the support of 333 legislators.

The current proposal cancels all current private power generation and sales contracts, which would ostensibly be up for re-negotiation at a later date. It also makes state-owned utility CFE the sole official off-taker – the sole universal buyer of electricity in any form –  and does away with existing regulators, putting oversight in the hands of energy ministry Sener and CFE. 

Moreira said that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's administration would have to get buy-in from the political Va por México coalition if it wishes to produce a compromise on shared transmission contracts, auctions, legacy schemes, lithium, the rights of the private sector and a completely revamped regulatory framework.

“The cost of portage [carried transmission] is not paid by everyone,” said Moreira, adding, “I’ve heard businessmen say, if there are excesses, they should be removed.”