Energy suspends collection of performance bonds from transmission company SATT for Epuleufu project

The Ministry of Energy ordered the suspension of the collection of guarantee bonds associated with the execution period of relevant milestones No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 of the Nueva S/E Seccionadora Epuleufu project and initiated the administrative procedure for the invalidation of letter No. 14/2026 and exempt resolution No. 18/2026, both from that ministry. The decision is contained in exempt resolution No. 330, issued in Santiago on October 23, 2026, and published in the Official Gazette No. 44,589, on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, in Section I (General Regulations), under the official reference CVE 2892974.

The act was signed by the Undersecretary of Energy, Hugo Briones Fernández, exercising the powers delegated by exempt resolution No. 51/2026, and transcribed by the Head of the Legal Division of the Undersecretariat, Andrea Verónica Soto Araya. It is based on Article 53 of Law No. 19,880, which sets a two-year period to exercise the power of invalidation following a hearing with the interested parties, and Article 32 of the same legal body, which enables provisional measures to ensure the effectiveness of the final decision.

The origin of the dispute

The Nueva S/E Seccionadora Epuleufu project was established by exempt decree No. 185/2020, within the 2019 annual transmission expansion plan. The National Electrical Coordinator (CEN) awarded it through international public tender to Sociedad de Transmisión Austral S.A. (STA), whose execution rights and conditions were detailed in decree No. 15T/2021, published on April 14, 2022. Subsequently, exempt decree No. 91/2023 authorized the transfer of ownership to Sociedad Austral de Transmisión Troncal (SATT).

The conflict centers on the committed deadlines for each project milestone:

• Milestone No. 1: calculation reports and technical design documents, 240 calendar days, completed on December 2, 2022.
• Milestone No. 2: start of construction, 493 calendar days, with a CEN extension to January 28, 2024.
• Milestone No. 3: factory equipment verification and seismic qualification, 618 calendar days, by December 23, 2023.
• Milestone No. 4: construction of foundations, 759 calendar days, with an authorized date of May 12, 2024, and an extension to September 29, 2024; executed on July 4, 2025.
• Milestone No. 5: on-site equipment verification, 805 calendar days, extended to February 28, 2025, and completed on May 2, 2025.
• Milestone No. 6: entry into operation, 36 months, with a deadline of April 14, 2025, not yet applicable according to the act.

The administrative sequence

On October 7, 2024, after the deadline for Milestone No. 4 had expired, SATT informed the CEN via letter No. 1559531 regarding events that, in its opinion, were beyond its management and had affected the execution. The CEN subsequently communicated the failures of milestones 4, 5, and 6 in letters DE 05535-24, DE 02346-25, and DE 02551-25, and the Technical Auditor’s reports certified the completion of the required activities.

With that precedent, the Ministry requested the bonds via letter No. 13/2026 and responded to the company with letter No. 14/2026, which announced the collection of the guarantee for Milestone No. 4. The motion for reconsideration filed on January 28, 2026, was rejected by exempt resolution No. 18/2026. On March 16, 2026, Luis Andrés Soto Rebolledo, representing SATT, requested the invalidation of both acts and the suspension of the bond’s execution.

Return of three bonds to the Coordinator

The resolution provides for the return to the National Electric Coordinator, for its custody and validity, three bonds from Banco Itaú Chile, each for USD 273,400.00, expiring on December 31, 2026:

• Bond No. 5801765/175600, associated with Milestone No. 4.
• Bond No. 5801766/175603, associated with Milestone No. 5.
• Bond No. 5801764/175599, associated with Milestone No. 6.

Likewise, the CEN is granted 10 business days to issue a statement, and interested parties are granted 10 business days from the date of publication to submit written allegations to the inbox oficinadepartes@minenergia.cl. The provisional measure will expire with the resolution that terminates the invalidation procedure.

The ruling by the Ministry of Energy eases a dispute that put the collection of guarantees for USD 820,200 at risk and directly affects the execution of transmission works in the south of the country, where the entry into operation of the New Epuleufu Sectioning S/E remains pending and without an effective completion date.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,589, Tuesday, November 3, 2026, Section I (General Norms), pp. 1-5 (official reference: CVE 2892974).