The Senate passed in a first reading the bill that creates the legal framework for the electricity sector. The framework for the electricity sector was debated in Congress for eight years, as interested parties fought for advantages. The senators passed the bill with the advantages to private companies the deputies recently incorporated. Seventeen of 24 senators voted in favor of passing the bill. President of the Senate Ramon Alburquerque opposed the bill on grounds that it creates a “perfect monopoly” for companies that are power distributors and generators at the same time. He said the Supreme Court of Justice could impugn the monopoly. The law establishes that in six months the Executive Branch needs to revise the contracts and the capitalization carried out under law 141-97 by the Commission for the Reform of Public Enterprise that oversaw the merging of state enterprises with private capitalists.
