Mexico is moving closer to effectively canceling its power market reforms by limiting competition and enabling the state-owned utility CFE, according to observers. Mexico's Energy Regulatory Commission, or CRE, has voted to remove regulations that forced CFE to buy power through public tenders, mandated by laws created after a 2013 reform of the sector that allowed for private investment. The CRE has also extended the useful life of old, dirty CFE plants that were supposed to come offline soon, and allowed the utility to build new plants and fit them under the legal regime in place before the reform. The changes have been approved over the last few months, and are part of a series of actions taken by the regulator and the country's Energy Secretariat in a bid to strengthen the state utility. The latest move effectively eliminates the possibility of future tenders as it kills the incentive for big producers to be in Mexico, Rosanety Barrios, a former Sener official who helped with the drafting and implementation of the reforms, told S&P Global Platts.
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