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Honduras's state power utility ENEE has announced planned power cuts for Tuesday, July 21, in neighborhoods and colonies across the country for scheduled maintenance work.

Congressman Arnold Burgos says the government lacks 13 votes from the opposition Liberal Party to pass reforms to Honduras's electricity sector, while denying plans to privatize the state utility ENEE.

A Libre congressman said the opposition party supports modernizing Honduras's state power company ENEE but rejects its division into separate corporations, signaling a key policy divide between parties over the utility's future structure.

The opposition Partido Libre warns that proposed reforms to Honduras's electrical system would lead to the privatization of the state utility ENEE and threaten its existence.

Leonardo Deras, a commissioner at electricity regulator CREE, warned that state utility ENEE is losing 1.3 billion lempiras (about $52 million) a month and that, without action, losses could reach 150,000 million lempiras (about $6 billion) in coming years.

ENEE manager Guillermo Peña cited insufficient investment and maintenance of the electricity grid as the root cause of Honduras's recurring power outages.

The Liberal Party's congressional bloc said it will not support a reform to the state power utility (ENEE) unless the proposal explicitly guarantees the company will not be privatized.

The Libre party's congressional bloc has proposed a popular consultation to let Hondurans decide the future direction of ENEE, the state electrical utility.

The head of the Cortés Chamber of Commerce warned that a new increase to electricity rates will reduce competitiveness in the industrial region.