Breathe
By Rosanety Barrios
"The real challenge is how to move forward when we are unsure of the right direction." - Ruth Bader Ginsburg
It was the turn of the 2013 energy reform to disappear. With the publication of the Decree reforming the fifth paragraph of Article 25, the sixth and seventh paragraphs of Article 27 and the fourth paragraph of Article 28 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, regarding strategic areas and companies, last October 31, the competition model in energy matters that was only in force for 10 years was buried, although it operated, as it was conceived, for barely 4 years, if we consider that in 2014 the secondary laws were published and that since December 2018 its deactivation began.
I am in favor that, as a society, that is, I include the government, we save as many adjectives as possible to address any issue that includes public policies and concentrate on the nouns.
With this in mind, I resort to a part of the speech given by the Secretary of Energy, Luz Elena Gonzalez, in the morning conference of October 30, regarding the above-mentioned Decree:
With this reform... the nature of both the Federal Electricity Commission and Petróleos Mexicanos is changed to give them back... their character as public companies of the State... these companies are given prevalence in order to guarantee continuity, security and accessibility for all Mexicans to a strategic resource.
I intentionally removed from the above quote the adjectives that accompanied the statement. In truth, I think it is much more understandable this way, even if, from a political point of view, it is deemed necessary to feed the philias and phobias that provoke the visceral reaction of the voters.
Let us then go straight to the objectives of continuity, security and accessibility of energy for all people in our country.
It seems to me that no one in their right mind could be against such noble and justified goals. I also believe that, as we are already experiencing the effects of the climate crisis, it is essential to include sustainability as an objective, but for the time being, let's stick to the 3 arguments that allowed us to put an end to the previous model.
The means to achieve these 3 objectives will be the prevalence (or preference) of State enterprises over services that could be provided by private initiative. This leaves aside the economic analysis, because CFE electrons are expensive and anything Pemex sells is expensive given the huge losses it reports. To meet affordability, it would be necessary to maintain an increasing level of subsidies, which is a challenge for public finances.
Let us now turn to security. Energy security, according to the International Energy Agency's most widely accepted definition, is the continuity of energy services at affordable prices. In other words, it is closely related to the other two objectives, or rather, it is the result of achieving the other two objectives, continuity and accessibility. I can only welcome the fact that energy security is a government priority. We cannot continue to live with blackouts and dependence on hydrocarbons whose price no one controls, as is the case of natural gas.
For all this to happen, there must be infrastructure to meet the energy demand in the country. With the recently published Decree, the State once again took in its hands the obligation to guarantee its attention. This implies that it has to make very relevant investments and that it requires private capital.
The following week we will know the electricity plan and we hope that it will finally reveal the way in which the IP will be able to participate in the sector. We also hope that the rules that will apply to these investments and that will represent the legal guarantee of their recovery, will be clear and immediately contained in the secondary laws, because no plan can replace a law.
It will be in the second week of November when Pemex's route towards that sustainable, transparent and non-profit future (Constitution dixit), but without losses that we all deserve, will be revealed to us.
We hope that Mexico will have a safe, reliable, accessible and, I would add, sustainable energy system. If it is with the prevalence of state-owned companies, then the prevalence is welcome, as long as it does not jeopardize the objectives defined by the government itself. If the regulators will now depend on the Ministry of Energy and with this we will gain in transparency and efficiency, blessed be the sectoral dependence.
I have to say that this energy model is very similar to that of the past, and that it seems difficult that the solutions for the future are contained in the past, especially when the problems are different, but, perhaps because it is the last thing to die, I declare myself ready to embrace hope.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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