Power outages were the stars of 2013. 40 degree heatwave in December blew levels of electricity consumption on national level causing extensive and massive power outages. One of ENARSA’s big projects is aimed at increasing the national energy system by constructing thermal power plants but the General Audit Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish) found that "lack of planning delayed the works and the final cost was considerably higher ".

According to the auditors "the Ensenada de Barragán and Brigadier López power plants were awarded in December and September 2008 and had to be ready for March and February 2011." However, when the AGN visited in December 2012 the Central de Ensenada, almost 20 months after the completion date "it found that the works had not been completed." The main reason was that "they had to face new work not originally planned."

In Brigadier López, "tasks were suspended for 270 days and had to purchase the surrounding land because those selected were insufficient to install the Central Power Plant".

As a result of the modifications and delays, contracts in both plants were more expensive. The first took an extra 45% in additional funding and 16% for redeterminations. Thus, "the contractual amount went from $ 1.5 million to $ 2.4 million." Then, additional work represented an 11% and 17% of rearrangements increased, "so the contract increased from $ 1 million to nearly $ 1.3 million."

On the business license granted by the Administrator Wholesale Electricity Market Company SA (CAMMESA, for its acronym in Spanish) the audit team stated that "in 2012 both plants had a provisional license" until the date of completion of the job in March 2013, when "the audit could not verify if they had received the permanent license."

In part, the report approved last year expressed, "the lack of a final authorization is due to the lack of environmental impact studies to detect, prevent, or remedy the effect of polluting factors."

In regard to ENARSA’s trade relations, it’s governed by the rules of private law. But "when it performs works with funds from the National Treasury it is under the purview of the law." Once clarified this issue, it is important to mention that on the construction of both centrals the AGN said it "could not verify the compliance with the Buy Argentine Act".

It’s that according to the first two articles of Law 25,551, the federal administration and its dependencies, dealerships, private companies, providers, and other institutions "should give preference to goods from Argentina." In return, under the fourth article of the law, "the Ministry of Industry and Trade would give a certificate of verification of the value of non-nationals" because they cannot exceed 40% of the gross value of the work.

The report cites the case of Bureau Veritas that even though it "presented a list of the items purchased and installed in the work, noting its origin," these documents "don’t account for the 
Certificate, as the audit requested."

Another major project being undertaken by ENARSA is the Distributed Power Generation (GEED, for its acronym in Spanish) which is "to produce or transport units to alternative internal combustion engine or gas turbine plants." About them, the AGN emphasized that they "began to operate without proper environmental clearance". The stations: "Añatuya, Sáenz Peña, La Plata, General Villegas Salto received them after some time." However, "Olavarria, Realicó, and Miramar I still don’t have them even though they are currently open".