Written by: Flavia Brancato
CPFL Brazil believes that producing and using energy in a sustainable manner is of essence for the future of mankind, by offering sustainable energy solutions with excellence and competitiveness.
Present on the Free Market since its creation, CPFL Brazil is a trader of Grupo CPFL Energia – the largest private group of the Brazilian electricity sector, with over 100 years of tradition and history in the sector. Serving about 350 customers in many commercial and industrial segments, the company trades electricity enough to serve nearly 6.2 million homes. In the past year alone, a little more than 13,500 GWh were traded, which means over 1550 MWm of energy sold in the year 2013.
THE DIFFERENCE
Taking into account that on the free market you are entitled to choose from whom you buy or to whom you sell energy, CPFL Brazil stands out not only for the reliance of their services provided, but also for their business partnerships, offer of customized products and solutions created by the internal team of experts all over the country.
According to the CEO of CPFL Brazil, Fabio Rogerio Zanfelice, CPFL continues to thrive: “We are different from the competitors because of the reliance we offer to our customers, as we are part of CPFL Energia, in addition to the sale of energy from CPFL Renováveis, the Latin American leader in the generation of clean and renewable energy,” on the Free Market, thus allowing its customers to be a part of the select group of companies that purchase sustainable energy.
By selling energy to customers, the company offers products at indexed prices, price referenced to Price of Settlement of Differences (PSD), energy swap, customized agreements, in addition to serving as a bridge by means of the sale to generators. “We offer this very product to other traders, in addition to other types of structured operations. We also offer after-hiring Energy Management services to help final customers manage their hiring,” Zanfelice says.
THE ENERGY MARKET
According to the executive, the main market trend is the growth of medium- and small-sized companies where the consumption of energy represents a relevant element of their costs. Zanfelice understands that “today the free energy market is the main option to provide saving against energy consumption. Within such trend, CRM role becomes stronger and stronger: it is necessary to identify what each customer group needs in order to deliver more and more a customized product, bringing benefits to all the parties involved in the process.”
It is also worth remembering that the procedures at the Câmara de Comercialização de Energia Elétrica-CCEE (Electric Energy Trading Chamber) represent an obstacle to the entry of some of such small-sized companies in the free market. Thus, another trend will be the creation of a Retailer - a trading modality that will benefit consumers with facilities to do business in the free market, and businesses are expected to start next year.
The sustainable growth that provides an expansion of the offer of energy by means of new energy generation enterprises can be deemed as one of the main challenges of the Brazilian electricity sector. Zanfelice also points out that, in the short term, “there is also the challenge created by the lack of rainfall, which results in high prices for the energy in 2015.”
To cope with such challenges, CPFL Brazil has its own model to build up the portfolio of agreements with consumers that steady energy generation projects, thus securing the final product to its customers.
RENEWABLE ENERGIES AND REASONABLE CONSUMPTION
A significant portion of the company trading operations is devoted to renewable sources. CPFL Renováveis, an arm of renewable source generation within Grupo CPFL Energia now has the full capacity of 2,108 MW hired, which corresponds to 1,773 MW in operation, in addition to other 335 MW under construction. Grupo CPFL Energia itself has programs that target energy efficiency wherein, by means of distributors, nearly BRL 56.5 million was invested in 2013 in actions passed by the Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica-Aneel (Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency).
The programs not only foster the reasonable use of electricity, but also join the urban forestation where, in the last year alone, 219 thousand seedlings were distributed to the Municipalities. Other outstanding projects are the Program for Revitalization of Philanthropic Hospitals – where the group has invested over BRL 5 million and benefitted more than 80 entities in the countryside of the State of São Paulo, the Program for Support to City Councils of Children and Teenagers, and the “Semear,” a program that involves more than five percent of the company personnel to develop voluntary work projects.
The group stands among the top 15 Brazilian investors in the cultural area. “Grupo CPFL Energia also has several works focused on the quality of life, health and safety. The Transformation Project, for example, focuses on preparing the company to continually grow in the years to come. We have also had weekly conversations on safety with the team (daily with field teams), which focus on health, safety and quality of life inside and outside the company,” says Zanfelice.
INVESTMENTS AND STRATEGIES
With an energy planning system and a system for approval of energy purchase and sale transactions developed by CPFL Brazil, it is possible to follow up very closely, and in real-time, the portfolio of agreements and customers’ management data, which allow us to manage the energy purchase and sale transactions with the utmost security.
As for the relationship with customers and suppliers, the CEO assures the relevance of communication and relationship actions. “Committed to the quality of the business management system and to the training of people, we hold the CPFL Brazil Forum to discuss current issues and the free energy market. We also sponsor events that provide this type of discussion and bring us closer to our customers,” he adds.
Another point emphasized by Zanfelice is the company positive progress. “The plans for the company anticipate the focus on increasing the portfolio of sales to final customers by offering additional after-hiring Energy Management services on the free energy market.” Moreover, CPFL Brazil is structuring team and procedures to act in energy efficiency.