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Argentina's government will fine the country's top three power distributors for allowing blackouts to occur in late December.

Planning Ministry Julio De Vido said Wednesday the fines apply to Edenor (EDN); Edesur, controlled by Endesa SA (ELE.MC); and Edelap, controlled by AES Corp. (AES).

Edenor and Edesur provide electricity in and around the City of Buenos Aires while Edelap covers the area including La Plata in Buenos Aires Province.

Argentina's national electricity regulator, ENRE, concluded that the distributors were directly responsible for power outages between Dec. 20 and 31.

Edesur faces a ARS64 million ($16 million) fine while Edenor will have to pay ARS22 million and Edelap ARS1.9 million.

Those amounts include payments that the companies must make to customers whose power was cut during that period.

De Vido said the companies must return any "damage fees" to customers within the next billing cycle.

"We will have people on top of this," he said, seeking to assure customers that the government will make sure the companies meet the regulatory obligations.

Demand for electricity soared to a record level in December as Argentines turned on their air conditioners en masse.

Demand for power rose 12.2% from the same month a year earlier, according to the energy-development think tank Fundelec. Argentina closed out the year with overall power demand up 5.9% from 2009, according to Fundelec.

Apart from the hot summer weather, booming economic growth and rising industrial production have been pushing demand for electricity to record levels. Meanwhile, in the cold winter months record numbers of people turned on their heaters last year, boosting the annual power consumption figures.

In December, consumption totaled 10,125.7 gigawatt hours, compared with 9,023.6GWh a year earlier.

-By Taos Turner, Dow Jones Newswires; 5411-4103-6728; taos.turner@dowjones.com