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Companies / Entities
- Ente Provincial de Energía del Neuquén
- Transportadora de Gas del Sur S.A.
- Gas Natural BAN S.A.
- Camuzzi Gas Pampeana S.A.
- MetroGas S.A.
- Transportadora de Gas del Norte S.A.
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Government/Regulations | Privatization/Concession | Downstream
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MeneameArgentina's government has called public meetings April 20-May 31 to discuss the renegotiation of concession contracts with 13 power and gas distributors, government news agency Telam reported.
The government aims to pressure the companies into agreeing to the terms of their new concession contracts by June, local papers reported.
Companies were taken by surprise by the decision because they say negotiations are still stalled.
"We had no idea that this would be the next step. The government has called meetings as if negotiations were advanced, but it's all stuck," newspaper La Nación quoted a source at one of the companies as saying.
The move does not correspond with an agreement between the Argentine and Spanish governments to renegotiate concession contracts fairly, a source at one Spanish-owned utility said, referring to President Néstor Kirchner's recent meeting with his Spanish counterpart President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Endesa Spain controls Edesur, which is one of Argentina's two largest power distribution companies currently renegotiating their concession contracts. France's state power company EDF controls the other main distributor, Edenor.
Of the total 64 concession contracts under negotiation with public service companies, including power and gas companies, 28 have been agreed and the remaining 36 must be resolved by June before legislative elections, newspaper Infobae reported.
The contracts were supposed to be renegotiated last year, but the government postponed the deadline to December 31, 2005, to take into account gradual price increases planned for this year. Public utility prices have been frozen since the devaluation of the peso in early 2002.
The schedule for the public meetings is as follows: Edenor and Edesur will have their meetings April 20, gas distributors Metrogas April 22, Camuzzi Gas del Sur and Pampeana April 28 and Gas Natural BAN May 13, gas transporters TGS April 27 and TGN May 18, transmission companies Transcomahue, Trasnoa, Transnea and Transpa on May 5, 20, 26 and 31 respectively and Neuquén province energy company EPEN on May 6.
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