Mexico’s COFECE Files Supreme Court Case Against Electricity Reform

Mexico’s antitrust authority on Thursday, April 22, announced that it had filed a dispute in the Supreme Court against a government reform that aims to increase the state’s role in the power sector and which was last month suspended by a judge citing competition fears.

The proposed changes, which have drawn the ire of leading business groups in Mexico and the United States, were fast-tracked through Congress, where President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s ruling party and its allies hold a majority.

The Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) stated some of the reforms proposed by Lopez Obrador’s government prevent competition in the sector. Previously, Cofece had urged the Congress to reject the reforms.

“It breaks the rule of open and non-discriminatory access to distribution and transmission networks, which reduces the ability to compete for certain generators and traders,” Cofece said in a statement.

The regulator also stated the reforms grant undue advantages to national power utility, the Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE). It also allows CFE to acquire energy through “non-competitive methods,” Cofece stated.