Like the worst mistake in EPM history. This is how Mayor Federico Gutiérrez Zuluaga described how the energy system was implemented in several regions of the Atlantic Coast through the Afinia subsidiary, which today shows a large loss due to the crisis that the energy sector is suffering in the Caribbean region.
“The losses are very large and they put EPM and its parent company at great risk. They put the city of Medellín at great risk because it depends, to a large extent, on the transfer of EPM profits (…) The question is how long Afinia can give more,” questioned Gutiérrez when which he clarified that the intervention of AIR-E, another service provider company in the sector shows that it is not a good business for EPM to continue with its subsidiary.
Given the situation, he recommended to the National Government that, before it is too late or power service provision is affected, Negotiated solutions are being sought. One of them, Gutiérrez said, is the possibility that the Nation will acquire 100 percent of Afinia’s shares. and take control of the work.
“We are willing to find a way in which the provision of the service will not be affected,” said the president.
It is not a good business
Three years ago, when the administration of Daniel Quintero decided that EPM would invest its resources in creating a subsidiary to provide services in some parts of the Caribbean region, after inter- the arrival of the Electricaribe that was not lost, More than 2 billion pesos have been injected into Afinia, which has improved service provision to more than 1.7 million users.
However, EPM recognizes the complexity of the situation facing the subsidiary, with the many reasons and causes, mostly outside the company.
“The difficult recovery of collection indicators, which reached 78.36% last year, and losses, which stood at 27.86% in the last 12 months; the strong collection of the balance of the transfer option which is a total of 1.5 billion pesos, a resource that must be allocated by the National Government; and non-payment of service of some official organizations such as schools, hospitals, etc., which is a total of 290,000 million pesos; These and other factors have had a strong impact on the Company’s cash flow.” They reported in a report.
