Last night, the Government finally decided to intervene the electricity distribution company Edesur, controlled by the Italian group Enel, due to the prolonged power cuts that affected thousands of users in CABA and the Buenos Aires suburbs during the last two weeks.
"We have instructed the Ente Nacional Regulador de la Electricidad (ENRE) to proceed with the intervention for 180 days of the company Edesur", announced the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, in an appearance before the press.
He indicated that the purpose of this intervention will be to supervise the fulfillment of the works and the compliance with the improvement in the service that the company, which has held the concession since 1992 to distribute electricity in part of the City of Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires, where it serves 2.5 million users, must have.
In the last fifteen days, Edesur has been in the eye of the storm for prolonged supply cuts that affected thousands of users in the middle of an intense heat wave, situations that, according to the minister, "cannot be tolerated any longer".
Massa pointed out that Enel's decision announced last November to put Edesur up for sale "generates uncertainty regarding the provision of the service".
"We want to make it clear that the new ownership of the shareholders is not affected, the concession contract is not affected, but the State will carry out, through the intervention, the effective control of the fulfillment of the contract", he said.
Last week, the Government filed a criminal complaint against Edesur and its directors for the alleged crimes of "fraud by disruption of the agreed rights, abandonment of persons and hindering public services". Massa said that Argentina's Energy Secretariat will inform the stock markets of the company's alleged non-compliance.
Jorge Ferraresi, mayor of Avellaneda and former Minister of Development and Housing in Alberto Fernandez's government, was appointed interventor.
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