The CFE says that it plans to build two new power plants in Yucatán, where blackouts have bedeviled residents for years.
The new plants in Yucatán will be in Mérida and Valladolid and should be completed by 2024.
In all, the government-owned power company intends to build six power plants across the country to meet demand in critical areas such as Baja California and Yucatán.
If the promise sounds familiar, it should. In 2019, during a tour of Yucatán, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised a new power plant “so that there will never be any blackouts” in the state.
The CFE director, Manuel Bartlett, has come under increasing scrutiny due to a series of blackouts around the country. These outages have left scores of homes and businesses across the country without electricity for prolonged periods of time.
Although the economic impact of these power outages is not known, analysts claim that they are likely to surpass 1,500 million pesos a year.
“Recent blackouts have had a negative impact on the production of 80% factories in the country, as well as an immense number of homes and hospitals,” said a press statement from Mexico’s largest employers association, Coparmex.
Power outages have been particularly problematic in Yucatán and are expected to continue throughout the hot summer months when electricity demand is at its highest.
Earlier: People in Merida’s north hit with nighttime power failures
Earlier this month, Yucatán Gov. Mauricio Vila Dosal called on the CFE to do more to prevent future blackouts.
The statement by the governor came days after power outages caused by a storm left customers without electricity for several hours, and some in areas such as the García Ginerés and Ciudad Caucel for well over an entire day.
Industry analysts have expressed concern regarding legal initiatives presented by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that plan to artificially prop up state-owned power companies by making competition more difficult.
“The unwavering support the president has shown to the CFE is clearly ideological. The needs of citizens need to be taken into account over ideology. As things are now, prices continue to rise while quality takes continuous hits,” said Coparmex President José Medina Mora Icaza.
