CEnergía believes that the payment that Iberdrola must disburse for the use of the fuel must be in accordance with the prices dictated by the market at that time, with which the Spanish company disagrees and for which it has refused to pay the extra cost determined by the state-owned CFE, the sources explained. Prior to the start of the legal process, the companies held a series of negotiations to reach an agreement, but were unable to close it.
“There were negotiations about gas costs. Iberdrola offered a reduction of the amount of that extra cost [derivado de los altos precios que se registraron por las tormentas en Texas], but the CFE did not accept it and then it was escalated to arbitration, “explained one of the sources. The lawsuit in an international court was filed at the end of last year, but so far neither party has made it public.
The sources did not detail the amount in dispute, nor the extra cost demanded by the CFE.
The state company has said on different occasions that the cold front in Texas last year caused millions in losses. According to the company’s data, the increase in the price of gas derived from the meteorological phenomenon caused a financial impact of 84,000 million pesos.
This new international arbitration process adds to another initiated by Iberdrola against the CFE in March of last year related to the start-up of the Topolobampo III power plant, which has failed to start commercial operations and for which the state-owned company has requested a payment of 190 million dollars through a counterclaim.
The state company has reported in its financial statements that faces 21 arbitration processes in international courts, of which he has not given more details.
The Spanish company – the largest private energy producer in the country – and the federal government have had a rough relationship that began a couple of months after the six-year term began. Iberdrola has become the main target of presidential attacks on the private sector that participates in the electricity market. The relationship became even more tense with the constant regulatory changes put in place by the federal administration before the rejection of the electricity reform in Congress.
Recently, the Energy Regulatory Commission sanctioned Iberdrola with a historic fine of 9,145 million pesos for allegedly selling electricity to some customers from a self-supply plant.
But even before, in October 2020, the Spanish company ruled out making new investments in Mexico, despite the fact that Iberdrola committed in May 2019 an investment of 5,000 million dollars that was announced by President López Obrador.