Endesa is again, this year, the main supplier of electricity to the State and public entities, after being awarded three lots in the contractual procedure for joint supplies for a value of 253.5 million euros. The award of three tender lots was communicated to the Observer by an official source from Espap (Entity for Shared Services of the Public Administration) which opened the procedure. The three lots awarded to the Spanish company refer to the supply of electricity. There is also a lot awarded to Galp (Petrogal) for a value of 93.1 million euros. In total, the four lots that went out to tender represent the electricity supply to 415 entities.
Galp also won the single lot in the tender for the supply of natural gas, for an amount of 83.2 million euros. The supply of fuel for highway use was divided between three oil companies: Galp — 37.5 million euros, Repsol — 7.4 million euros and BP Portugal — 433 thousand euros.
In 2022, Endesa had already won three lots in the tender launched under the framework agreement signed in 2020 and valid until 2024, for a value of 105.6 million euros. According to August data from the Energy Services Regulatory Entity (ERSE), the Spanish electricity company holds the largest market share in supply to large consumers.
Endesa is the largest supplier of electricity to the State by value of contracts
Already last year, Endesa had been the main supplier of electricity to the State in terms of values, a situation that was repeated this year, despite the controversy with the Government that broke out in August of last year, and that was derived from the declarations of the president, Nuno Ribeiro da Silva, on the impact that the cost of the Iberian mechanism would have on the increase in the electricity bill.
Challenging this impact on the bill —the mechanism was created by the governments of Portugal and Spain with the opposite objective of limiting the rise in prices in the wholesale market—, the Government, by order of António Costa, imposed on the numerous public customers of Endesa the obligation to verify the advance payment of invoices. A validation obligation whose final responsibility fell on the then Secretary of State for Energy, João Galamba, but in which the ENSE (National Entity of the Energy Setor) also participated.
The order signed by the President of the Government in August is still in force, but the maximum responsibility for verifying invoices now passes to the new Secretary of State, Ana Gouveia. Endesa also has a new protagonist in Portugal with the appointment of Guillermo Soler Calero as CEO and the departure of Nuno Ribeiro da Silva from the presidency of the Portuguese electricity company.
Endesa appoints Guillermo Soler Calero as general director of operations in Portugal
There was no public record of returned or unpaid invoices for any charges not provided for in the terms of the contract, but the Observer has indications that there have been delays in some payments due to doubts about the invoices. For clients with one-year contracts (the majority), the cost of the Iberian adjustment is paid at the time of renewal of the contractual conditions. According to the information made available by order of the Government by the General Directorate of Energy and Geology (DGEG), the cost of the adjustment has always been lower than that which would result from the market price without the cap on natural gas.
Source: Observadora
