In 1990, Argentina started to privatize most of its state-owned utilities: power, water, trains, and telecommunications, just to name a few.

The project's sole customer, a state-owned utility, defaulted on payments saying the power cost was too high.

The ban was limited to state-owned utilities, though an extension to private sector was considered.

It has also looked at countries like Hungary that want to sell state-owned utilities.

The state-owned utility would no longer pay Federal taxes on income or dividends to shareholders.

The power plants sell to state-owned utilities, and Indonesia is expected to try to lower the tariff it pays for electricity.

Enron said the state-owned utility had agreed to purchase the plant's power for 30 years with payment guaranteed by the Government.

This month the Government wrote off telephone, water and electricity bills that were past due to state-owned utilities over the last year and half.

Privatisation has been mostly completed, except for some of the large state-owned utilities.

The city has not kept pace with the need, he said, and state-owned utilities are not responsive to consumer complaints.