Published Wednesday, 11 November, 12:28 a.m. ET (1:28 a.m. Caracas) · Source: Venezuela’s National Assembly
Venezuela, where the lights go out for hours at a time, has voted to let private companies help run its power grid. The National Assembly, the country’s parliament, approved the change unanimously in a final vote on Tuesday, 10 November 2026.
The law is the newest step in a US-backed opening of the economy, and it shows how Venezuela US tensions have turned into a race for access to a country with huge oil reserves and a broken grid.
Key Facts
- What happened. Venezuela’s National Assembly unanimously passed a law letting private firms generate and sell electricity.
- The terms. Concessions, meaning state-granted licences, run up to 25 years; plants above 50 megawatts need one.
- What happens next. The final text and detailed rules must still appear, and investors will wait for both.
- Why it matters for US readers. The law targets foreign investors, days after US major ExxonMobil signed a non-binding oil memorandum.
This story is part of our coverage of the Venezuela US tensions. Who runs Venezuela, the US sanctions and oil deals, the Maduro case and the odds are in our dossier.
In plain English
A concession is a licence from the state to run a power plant or line for a fixed number of years. Until now the state has dominated Venezuela’s electricity, and the law lets companies run parts of it while the state keeps the biggest plants and the main wires.
What the New Law Allows
Private companies, Venezuelan and foreign, may now generate and sell electricity and take part in other stages of the power business, with the state keeping its guiding role. Concessions can run for up to 25 years, and generation above 50 megawatts needs one.
The law also aims to speed up approvals and to encourage renewable energy. Disputes can go to local courts or to international mediation and arbitration, which matters to foreign investors.
What the State Keeps
The state holds on to hydroelectric generation on the Caroní, Paragua and Caura rivers, the Uribante-Caparo complex and other plants. It also keeps the main transmission and distribution networks and the dispatch of power, the minute-by-minute control of the grid.
A new oversight body, reported as a special superintendency, will supervise tariffs and service.
Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez described the idea simply: a private company generates electricity and supplies it “in exchange for an established tariff.” He rejected the word privatisation and said the law does not promote it.
Why Caracas Is Acting Now
Long outages, sudden cuts and voltage swings have become routine for homes, shops and factories. Years of weak infrastructure and too little investment left the grid unable to cope.
Electricity demand also rose this year, adding pressure on a network that was already struggling.
The reform follows a hydrocarbons law passed in January that eased state control of the oil industry. Lawmakers first approved the bill in a first reading in early June, so the final vote came about five months later, after the last debate was postponed three times.
What It Means for US Readers
The vote came one day after ExxonMobil, the US oil major that left Venezuela in 2007, signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with PDVSA, the state oil company, to evaluate oil projects there. Our report on that preliminary Exxon pact explains why such paper is a signal, not a spending plan.
Washington has pushed for US investment to return since Nicolás Maduro was captured in January. Oil companies weighing Venezuelan projects stand to gain from a steadier grid, while investors who need tariffs spelled out first may hold back for months. The next test is the detailed rules: until they appear, nobody can price a power project with confidence.
What Is Not Known
We have not seen the final text of the law, so the details above rest on reports of the Assembly session. The exact time of the vote is not confirmed.
Tariff levels, the implementing rules and how long concessions can be extended remain unknown. We found no reaction from opposition parties, unions or business chambers, and it is too early to say how investors will respond.
More: Venezuela geopolitics guide, with the wider story.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Venezuela’s National Assembly approve?
On Tuesday, 10 November 2026, it unanimously passed a reform that lets private and mixed companies work in the electricity sector, under state rules.
Is Venezuela privatising its electricity?
Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez says no. The state keeps the big hydroelectric plants, the main grid and dispatch, and a new body will oversee tariffs.
Sources: Venezuela’s National Assembly (vote and statements by its president, Jorge Rodríguez); ExxonMobil; PDVSA, the state oil company.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. The Rio Times also runs Ask Rio Times, which answers from 100,000+ of our own articles, the daily Latin America Power Map, and prediction-market odds on elections and markets.. How we use AI · Report an error
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