Comisión Federal de Electricidad

Affiliations

CFE is not a part of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, though its transmission system in northern Baja California is part of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council through its interconnection with San Diego Gas & Electric via the Miguel-Tijuana and the LaRosita-Imperial Valley Lines and the Path 45 corridor; it also has a few other interconnections across the border with local utilities in the United States.

Takeover of Luz y Fuerza del Centro

On 12 October 2009, President Felipe Calderón issued a decree dissolving Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LFC, also rendered on logo as "LyF"), the state-owned power company serving most of central Mexico—including Mexico City, most of the State of Mexico and some communities in the states of Morelos, Hidalgo and Puebla. The government claimed that spending had outpaced sales due in part to massive featherbedding, and it no longer made sense for the company to stay afloat. According to the government, spending at the company was increasingly outpacing sales CFE went on to control the national electric system and expand its operations nationwide, while the smaller LFC kept a low profile, maintaining its operations in the central region of Mexico.

LFC provided electricity to several states where, by virtue of a federal law, CFE had no operations (a 1985 agreement between CFE and LFC increased the areas served by the former). As of March 2010, LFC's operations have been fully absorbed by CFE.

Nickname

Since the CFE is the dominant electric company in Mexico, most customers refer to it as "la comisión" (e.g. "The commission"). While there are other Mexican government commissions, the term is almost exclusively applied to the CFE.

Controversies

Two corruption scandals in the US cite payments of bribes to officials at the CFE in return for contracts.

2010

In September 2010, ABB, a Swiss corporation, admitted that ABB Network Management, paid bribes to officials at CFE from 1997 to 2004, totaling approximately $1.9 million. In exchange for the bribe payments, according to court documents, ABB received contracts worth more than $81 million in revenue.

The matter was resolved in September 2010 in a US court.

2011

In May 2011, Lindsey Manufacturing Company of the US was convicted by a US federal jury under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for their alleged roles in a scheme to pay bribes to officials at the CFE.

The bribes were paid through an intermediary, who allegedly had a corrupt relationship with a senior CFE official. Lindsey Manufacturing allegedly received more than $19 million in CFE business over the course of seven years as a result of working through the intermediary.

According to evidence presented at trial, the intermediary bought a CFE official a $297,500 Ferrari Spyder and a $1.8 million yacht, as well as paying more than $170,000 towards the official’s credit card bills. In December 2011, a US District Court dismissed the indictments against Lindsey Manufacturing, citing misconduct by the prosecution. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said it planned to appeal the dismissal, but in May 2012 the government withdrew its appeal.

Enrique Ocho Mansera (President of PRI) and Comisión Federal de Electricidad violation article 127 of Mexican Constitution

In September 2016, as reported by Pablo Gomez from Aristegui Noticias, Enrique Ochoa Mansera the President of the PRI, after working at the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) (Federal Commission of Electricity) for 2 years an 155 days, received $1'206'000 pesos of liquidation for voluntary retirement the CFE, despite the fact that as stipulated in the article 33 of the Manual de Trabajo de Servidores Publicos de Mando la CFE" (Rules for Work for Public Servers in Charge of the CFE) those liquidations only apply after 3 years of service, and can not be paid to individuals who choose voluntary retirement. Such payment also goes against the Article 127 of the Mexican Constitution. The President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto gave his opinion on the matter by saying: "En este tema que tanto lacera, el tema de la corrupcion, esta en todos los ordenes de la sociedad y en todos los ambitos, no hay alguien que pueda a atraverse a arrojar la primera piedra" ("This topic that is so much talked, topic of the corruption, is in every order of the society and in every ambit, there is no one capable of throwing the first stone.") This was seen as a biblical reference to the story where Jesus defends an infidel woman by saying "He who is free of sin throw the first stone".