Argentina's nationwide power outage puts Macri electricity interests in spotlight

The historic blackout that left nearly all of Argentina - and parts of neighboring countries - without electric power most of Sunday, June 16, could not be explained by the government.

"There are no reasons for this to have happened; but the reality is that it happened," Energy Secretary Gustavo Lopetegui noted - a full 7 hours after the blackout began.

But the nationwide blackout - unprecedented in Argentine history - has raised new questions about the role of President Mauricio Macri's business interests in his country's electricity market, as well as those of close business associates and personal friends.

The Argentine Interconnection System (SADI) is managed by Transener, owned by Macri's friend and partner, Marcelo Mindlin - whose Pampa Energía conglomerate is one of the largest Argentine private firms of any type.

The firm that connects Argentina's largest hydroelectric dam, Yacyretá, with SADI is Yacylec - owned by the Macri Group since the electric grid was first privatized in 1993.

Sunday's systemic power failure was determined to have originated in Transener and Yacylec lines running from the Yacyretá and Salto Grande dams, both in NE Argentina.

Macri's sale of the state's 25% share of Transener to Mindlin last year led to a criminal complaint for conflict of interest; Yacylec, for its part, is reported to owe $10 million in unpaid taxes.

The nation's two largest electric utilities are likewise controlled by close Macri associates: Edenor (the largest) by Mindlin; and Edesur by Nicolás Caputo - Macri's best friend, and the beneficiary of the president's latest privatization: the 420-MW Brigadier López power plant.

The result has been underinvestment: Power utility watchdog CEPIS noted that outages this summer (January) had jumped 59% despite 3000% electricity rate hikes in the three years up to that point.

This despite a relatively mild summer, and a 16.5% fall in power demand as a result of both the rate hikes and the worst recession since Argentina's 2001-02 collapse.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fkontrainfo.com%2Fapagon-historico-la-desmentida-de-yacyreta-macri-y-mindlin-detras-de-la-corrupcion-de-yacylec-y-transener%2F

Macri and his chief business partners Marcelo Mindlin (left) and Nicolás Caputo (right).

Mindlin and Caputo are the chief shareholders in Argentina top electric companies, making them the chief beneficiaries of Macri's 3000% rate hikes. The Macris, in turn, are minority partners with each.

The distributors directly tied to today's blackout, Transener and Yacylec, are controlled by Mindlin and Macri respectively.