Edward Murillo
Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, April 6, 2022, p. 3
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) began the discussion on the Law of the Electricity Industry (LIE), with the rejection of the request of the opposition senators for the rapporteur minister, Loretta Ortiz Ahlf, to declare herself prevented from learn about the matter. So far, only two ministers have spoken out regarding the project to endorse the LIE, one against and the other partially in favor.
When presenting her proposal, the minister pointed out that access to electricity must be recognized as a human right and, therefore, the obligation of the State to guarantee it.
“I believe that we are facing a great opportunity to recognize access to electricity as a human right, because – in my opinion – there is no doubt that it has been established as an essential element to guarantee people’s human rights” , raised the rapporteur.
He presented the first subsection, on the articles of the LIE that regulate the order of dispatch, that is, the priority rules with which public and private generators will have access to the national transmission network to distribute their production.
Opposition senators challenged this point considering that it unfairly favors the Federal Electricity Commission, leaving in the background the so-called clean energies: wind and solar.
The project stated that this type of generation is not constant, since it depends on wind and sunlight, so to guarantee a regular and safe supply it is necessary to have traditional plants for basic supply.
Minister Javier Laynez announced his vote against because he considers that the LIE is contrary to the 2013 energy reform.
“I believe that public policy is not up to us –as constitutional judges– to establish which is the best scheme. I believe that we should limit ourselves to see if this, this reform proposed today is framed or has support in the current constitutional framework, ”she added.
The other minister who expressed his opinion was Juan Luis González Alcántara, who said he generally supported the project, but with some differences: I generally agree with the proposal that the rapporteur submits for our consideration, but I will depart from the normative portions indicated in article 4, section VI and 26, as well as the recognition of the validity of article 3, section V and article 53 of the Electricity Industry Law
.
The debate will continue next Thursday.
