The Secretary of Energy, Flavia RoioNo, reiterated the revocation of the concession is not excluded to the electricity distributor Edesur, who intervened administratively for 180 days, as announced on Monday and published this Tuesday in the Official Gazette.
The official assured that the measure was taken to “give a quick response, why a removal of the concession or other figure ask for more time study to be able to do it well, without harming the interests of the State”.
“According to how (the intervention) evolves, it has not been excluded (a removal of the concession) but It was not a measure to be taken in this haste preserve the interests of the state,” he said in statements to Radio Continental.
Royón said that, although ENRE supervisors were already present in the company, who had detected deviations from the summer plan to which Edesur had committed, “we needed someone to be able to work much more in real time and control and be able to prevent cuts in the future and have a better summer next year and be able to get into winter.”
ENRE checks after it happened and the official said they need “an ex ante check, that the investments that we consider priorities start to be made now, even if there have been many years of divestment and the problem is not it will be solved in a few months”.
Royón wanted to clarify that the administrative intervention does not take care of the operation of the company or affect its assets. “The owner can check the investments that are being made and, in the case of users without service, also the contingency plans”.
The official downplayed the argument that Edesur’s service cuts are due to the rate freeze that existed in the past. “When the company had the full rate, no investments were made either.S. And in this management we worked with them, we gave a rate, which people will receive it in April and June. We’ve had the willingness to give compensation and make sure that some of this compensation goes to the jobs plan that we need.”
“We all know that Enel (the Italian owner of Edesur) is withdrawing and we had a commitment that their withdrawal would be with full responsibility and that they would respect this summer plan and implement the investments,” he said.
Regarding the sales process, Royón said that the intervention does not concern him. “It may take some time they have to get their paperwork in order, call a bank to take charge of the process, it can take months and up to a year“He took a risk. However, Enel sold its two generator sets – Costanera and Dock Sud – shortly after announcing it was looking for a buyer.
Royón instead defended the appointment of the mayor of Avellaneda, Jorge Ferraresi, as head of the intervention: “He is an engineer, has worked in energy companies and is linked to energy issues and knows the area”.
Source: Clarin
