Argentina’s energy regulator has intervened in the running of the Edesur power company after a series of recent blackouts in the capital, Buenos Aires.
The regulator, Ente Nacional de Regulación de la Electricidad (ENRE), has appointed former Minister for Housing, Jorge Ferraresi as a ‘transitory trustee’ for six months in an effort to get supplies back on track.
Minister for the Economy, Sergio Massa said the blackouts endured by thousands of Argentines over the past 15 days could no longer be tolerated.
“We want to make it clear that the ownership of the company is not affected; that the concession contract is not affected, but that the State will carry out, through the trusteeship, the effective supervision of the fulfilment of the contract,” Mr Massa said.
“The ENRE intervention is of a transitory and exceptional nature and is the result of Edesur’s deficient actions in terms of service compliance.”
The decision comes after repeated blackouts across the Buenos Aires metropolitan area.
Most recently in the midst of a heatwave, with temperatures soaring above 30°C even at night, tens of thousands of homes and businesses suffered power cuts of several hours and up to several days.
Angry residents in the south of the capital — the area most affected by the cuts — marched on the Edesur offices, with some demonstrators vandalising property and setting tyres alight on the streets outside.
Edesur supplies hundreds of thousands of homes with electricity. It was privatised in 1992.
In February, ENRE fined Edesur one billion pesos ($A1 million) for the repeated power outages and Mr Massa said the firm would also be penalised a further 2.7 billion pesos ($A2.1 million) which would be used to reimburse service users who suffered outages.
Buenos Aires, 25 March 2023
