• Controversial law gave state-owned utility CFE the priority
• Government called for judges to be recused from process

Maya Averbuch, Bloomberg News

MEXICO CITY
Energiesnet.com 09 28 2023

A debate by Mexico’s Supreme Court on private energy companies’ complaints over the government’s nationalistic electricity legislation was postponed on Wednesday after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s government called for two judges to be removed from the process.

The ruling over the controversial law, which gave Mexico’s state-owned utility CFE priority over private ones in dispatching electricity, was delayed after the Energy Ministry requested that judges Alberto Perez Dayan and Luis Maria Aguilar Morales not participate in the decision, according to a person at the top court with direct knowledge of the matter. The debate and vote will determine whether the 2021 law can be applied to the power companies involved in the case, the person said. 

The remaining judges in the Supreme Court will have to decide whether the two judges would be able to participate in the process, which could lead to possible delays in the decision. A new date for the debate has not yet been set. 

A spokesman for the presidential office didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. 

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bloomberg.com 09 27 2023