Senate to discuss Enarsa bill Wednesday

Argentina's senate will discuss on Wednesday a bill to create a state-controlled energy company, Energía Argentina ( Enarsa), newspaper Infobae reported. The good news for President Néstor Kirchner is that there is a "wide consensus" on the bill in the senate, the paper reported. Kirchner presented the project to congress in early June. The law is aimed at avoiding power abuse in the local market, amongst other objectives. "Enarsa can intervene in the market to avoid situations of dominant position abuse originating from the conformation of monopolies or oligopolies," according to Article 4 of the bill. Federal planning minister Julio de Vido has defended the bill from accusations by private companies that the government aims to seize control of the hydrocarbons sector. Enarsa "is not coming to destroy anything that exists, but rather it is coming to improve what exists, defend the consumer and generate the effective presence of the state" in the market, de Vido was quoted as saying. "Enarsa is advancing in favor of Argentina and not to the detriment of private companies that operate in the country," de Vido said. The federal government will own 53% of Enarsa and provincial governments 12%, with the remaining 35% listed on the stock market. The creation of Enarsa is part of Kirchner's 11.1bn-peso (US$3.8bn) spending plan announced in May, through which he aims to resolve the country's energy crisis. Enarsa will give the state more control of the electric sector after "years of disinvestment" since the privatization of energy companies in the 1990s.