MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s Senate voted late on Wednesday to amend the country’s constitution to give shipping preferences to state electricity company CFE, strengthening the national energy producer’s preferential status over foreign or private competitors.
The initiative was passed by the upper house of Congress by a vote of 86 to 39, meeting the requirement of two-thirds support to amend the constitution.
The constitutional reform will require that the national grid operator Cenace will give priority to the energy generated by the CFE’s power plants, even if it is more expensive than the power supplied by private producers.
The proposal was already adopted by the House of Representatives last week, with support from the left-wing ruling Morena party of President Claudia Sheinbaum.
The constitutional revision of shipping rules will come into effect once passed by a majority of state legislatures and will then be published in the government’s gazette.
Like her predecessor, former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Sheinbaum has sought to give greater control of Mexico’s energy market to state energy company Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE).
Lopez Obrador tried to make the same change during his time in office but was thwarted by legal challenges.
