The constitutional reform presented by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador would cancel contracts under which 34 private plants sell power into the national grid. The plan declares “illegal” another 239 private plants that sell energy direct to corporate clients in Mexico.

It puts private natural gas plants almost last in line — ahead of only government coal-fired plants — for rights to sell electricity into the grid, despite the fact they produce power about 24% more cheaply. Government-run plants that burn dirty fuel oil would have preference over private wind and solar plants.

Rocio Nahle, the secretary of energy, said that means “the private firms are going to be in the market with 46% percent, they are not going to be nationalized at all, not even one screw or one nut.”

But Nahle didn’t explain what the difference is between effectively shuttering a private power plant and nationalizing it. Both would have zero value for the owner and would be impossible to move.

Seems like soc-dem brainworms where they recognize the need to avoid a privately dominated energy sector, but they're willing to hamstring cleaner sources to get there rather than just nationalize them.