Bolivia nationalises four power companies

• 13 years ago (2010-05-03)
• David Flin

Europe 1061

---

Bolivian President Evo Morales has nationalised three power companies with foreign capital and a local electricity cooperative during a ceremony to mark International Workers’ Day.

The nationalised power generating companies were Corani, which was 50 per cent owned by Ecoenergy International, a unit of France’s GDF Suez; Guaracachi, 50 per cent owned by Britain’s Rurelec; and Valle Hermoso, half of whose shares were held by the Bolivian Generating Group, a unit of investment firm Panamerican de Bolivia. In each case, the Bolivian government had held the other 50 per cent stake in the companies.

The nationalised Bolivian cooperative was Empresa de Luz y Fuerza de Cochabamba (Elfec), an electricity distributor.

Morales – who issued the decree at one of Corani’s plants in the central province of Cochabamba – said that following these latest takeovers, state-owned power company ENDE will control 80 per cent of Bolivia’s electricity generation. He added that the plan is to continue with the nationalisation of the entire sector.