A Mexican judge has indefinitely stopped the electricity reform pushed by Mexican president Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, and his ruling party Morena. The judge Juan Pablo Gomez Fierro, specialized in economic and commercial competence, granted this Friday the indefinite suspension of it.
Firstly, as we reported previously, the reform had been stopped provisionally in March 12, as it had been proven to be against the law. President Obrador pledged to initiate an investigation upon the judges that supported the measure and accused them of being in the payroll of private energy companies.
However, Judge Gomez Fierro, said he conceded the suspension of the reform; and all of its consequences, after two companies filed against it. “We must precise at this point that, although only two companies solicited the effects of this cautious measure; it must have general effects in order to not grant these companies commercial advantages.”
Secondly, the judge remarked that, if the measure was to be granted for only the two companies that filed, he would give them economic and commercial advantage over other companies in the same situation.
Consequently, the judge urged the Energy Secretariat to notify the suspension of it to all of the participants of the Wholesale Electricity Market in Mexico. Particularly, the two companies that filed against were Eoliatec of the Pacific, and Tuxpan Energy. Also, as we reported previously, Orejana Solar had filed against the reform.
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Moreover, there are at least 40 companies that have filed against the reform; now, Judge Gomez Fierro has to rule at least for twenty of them. The rest are in hands of the judge Rodrigo de la Peza, according to Mexican news media.
On the other hand, the Mexican government has up to 10 days to file a review of the case. After that, a specialized tribunal will have 90 days more to confirm the suspension or to revoke everything. President Obrador has also pledged to investigate the judges involved in the suspension; and has also vowed to change the constitution after this.
Although the president would need to submit those changes to the Congress, the majority he has in both of them may ensure the passing of the constitutional changes.
Finally, companies like Bimbo and Walmart have also filed against the reform; this in order to keep the government subsidies to lower their electricity bills. Obrador said it was a shame for them to further seek those subsidies, also in prejudice of his reform.
