Gustavo Petro would assume utility regulatory duties for three months

President Gustavo Petro is getting closer to assuming the regulation of public services in Colombia. At the beginning of February, the draft decree that would allow him to perform these functions was published and despite the fact that in 15 days a series of bodies provided more than 55 observations, the national government only accepted only one.

According to the annotation document known by Blue Radio, theThe only observation that had a green light was that of the Colombian Oil and Gas Association. The entity asked “to explicitly include a start and end period for the resumption of presidential functions”, with the aim of providing greater certainty in the markets.

In this regard, the national government accepted the proposal and set an initial deadline of three months, taking into account that “it is a question of being able to carry out functions aimed at defining the ‘general policy'” to carry out these regulations in public services. “This will be indicated in the decree which will be definitively published,” he added.

The functions that the president would take over would be those of a general nature of the Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission (Craig) and the Commission for the Regulation of Drinking Water and Basic Sanitation (BOW). When the decree is signed, these entities “will continue to enact administrative acts of a private nature”, reads the draft regulation.

Gustavo Petro, for his part, explained on January 26 that he would exercise these functions for the benefit of users. “I will take control directly and personally, on the basis of what the law itself says: first the general interest and that of the user”, declared the Head of State during a event with representatives of the Community Action Tips (JAC) of the country in Duitama, Boyacá.

According to the president, the publication of this decree is supported by the Political Constitution of Colombia, in the section 370. “The President of the Republic has the power to generate policies for the general administration, control and efficiency of residential public services”, such as water and electricity.

One of the most repeated observations concerns the regulatory functions that could not be assumed by the decree. “There are some who do not come from the presidential delegation but directly from the mission made by the legislator”, specifies the National Association of Public Services and Communication Companies (Andesco), according Radio Blue.

This position was also shared by the Colombian Association of Electric Power Distributors (Asocodis). Among the arguments, he mentions the Article 23 of Law 143 of 1994which establishes that the Creg’s function is to “define the methodology for calculating the tariffs for access and use of the electricity networks” and that the president could not assume this task.

Colombian hydrogenFor his part, he assured that the modification of this regulation “will jeopardize the confidence and stability that are necessary for investments in production projects with unconventional energy sources and the production of hydrogen”. This warning has to do with the national government’s goals of making a transition to clean energy.

“Institutional stability and legal certainty are fundamental pillars of our democracy and the cornerstone of the economy,” the organization added.

Agree with Radio Blue, the national government did not accept these observations because “the exercise of these functions does not in any way exclude the functions attributed to articles 73 and 74 of law 142”. In this sense, the decree that will be taken will take into account the principles and pricing criteria of the two laws 142 and 143.