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Enel Chile S.A.
7/28/2021
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the NA Chile Q2 and first half 2021 results conference call. My name is Felita, and I will be your conference operator today. During this conference call, we may make statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements reflect only our current expectations, are not guarantees of future performance, and involve risk and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. These factors are described in a Chili's press release reporting in Q2 and first half 2021 results. the presentation accompanying this conference call, and in a Chile annual report on Form 20F, including on the risk factors, you may access our Q2 and first half 2021 results press release and presentation on our website, www.na.cl, and our 20F on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on those forward-looking statements which speak only as of their dates. NL Chile undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements or disclose any development as a result of which these forward-looking statements become inaccurate except as required by law. I would now like to turn the presentation over to Mrs. Isabella Klein, Head of Investor Relations of N.A. Chile. Please proceed.
Thank you, Felita. Buenos dias, good morning, and welcome to N.A. Chile's second half of 2021 results presentation. Thanks to you all for joining us today. I am Isabella Klein, the Head of Investor Relations. Let me remind you that our presentation and related financial information are available on our website, www.nl.cl, in the investor sections, and in our app, Investors. In the final of the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions via phone or chat through the link, Ask a Question. Joining me this morning are our CEO, Paolo Palotti, and our CFO, Giuseppe Turchiarelli. In the following slides, Paulo will open the presentation with the main highlights on strategy and operation performance. Then, Giuseppe will walk you through our financial results. A replay of the call will also be available, and always, our REL team will continue to be available to provide you with any detailed information you may need concerning the figures included in this presentation. Let me also remind you that media participants are connected only in listening mode. Thank you all for your attention, and now let me hand over to Paolo. Paolo?
Thank you, Isabella. Good morning, and thanks for joining us. EnerChile is consolidating its leading position in renewables and is driving the energy transition. We are conscious about the importance of those advances in the energy transition in a country like Chile, where resources and technology may support the implementation of a true path towards the fight to climate change and the expansion of the use of electricity in the industry, in the cities, at home, transforming the client, the citizen, quality of life. This is an effort with multiple benefits that also requires a quick reaction by the several authorities involved to truly understand and support those changes. During this quarter, we are advancing the construction of more than 1.2 gigawatt of renewable capacity in seven projects that are part of the 2.4 gigawatt additional renewables. that we will add during the 2021-2023 period. As you will see in the results slides presented by Giuseppe, our 2021 ARF results have been impacted by non-structural elements like local gas availability and commodities hiking prices. Looking at sustainability commitment, Recently, we have been included for the first time in the Standard & Poor's IPSA ESG Title Index. Launched earlier this year by Santiago Stock Exchange, the Standard & Poor's IPSA ESG Title Index, and achieved it now, one of the 27 companies added and the first with local operation on this index, with rebalancing executed during July 21. Also, I would like to highlight The new FUZI Russell score for our company recently announced. We have been achieving 4.0 points or a total of 5.0 versus 3.4 in the previous year. These recognitions reflect our sustainability strategy and our commitment towards just energy transition. We are growing along our strategy together with our clients' energy requirements. In addition to supply electricity via our retail operations, NLX has signed several agreements with the private sector, mainly mining companies as a starting point, and then service companies to promote electric mobility and energy efficiency solutions. Additionally, we continue to support the decontamination of the cities, participating in the implementation of several programs to push on the adoption of electric heating system in exchange for more contaminated ones. Finally, consistent with our strategy, we have signed an agreement with Banco Santander for our first SDG link instrument. This law is linked directly to tackle the climate action, the SDG 13, and is related to the reduction of our direct CO2 emissions by 2023. And El Chile is the first local utility in securing this kind of instrument linked to United Nations SDGs. Now on our capacity under construction, page number four. Let me give you some update on our project under construction as important pillar for our positioning in the market and for the implementation of the energy transition. As already commented with you, The last 12-15 months have been quite complex in managing the construction of the new plant. The effects of the pandemic, causing lockdown restrictions and closure of the country's borders, jointly with the initial delays on archaeological permits caused by bureaucracy and LECO personnel, require in some cases reschedules of our project timeline. Notwithstanding the above, We continue to advance on constructing our renewable portfolio. As you can see in the chart, considering the capacity under construction, by the end of this year, we will put in operation a significant percentage of that amount. Let's move to slide number five. Our clients are requiring our support to be provided with an aggregate of services related to the use of the green energy and to the decontamination of their activities. We have signed different partnerships and agreements to promote sustainable transportation and more in general innovative services in the use of the energy. A recent example is the agreement with Falabella Group, one of the largest retailers in Latin America. after a private tender and have been awarded to sell energy to their operations and at the same time to incorporate more than 500 electric charging points through their country. With those agreements, we are providing a complete solution to our clients, coping with their path to decarbonization. At the same time, We have increased NLX market share and enhanced its leadership in the energy efficiency and electromobility in the country. Finally, in line of contributing to the development of smart cities, with NLX again, we have developed security projects like monitoring and surveillance. This kind of project includes security cameras, automatic reading countries for car patent, and the laying of optical fiber that integrates it. Today, we will have more than 1,200 security cameras installed in Chile, complementing the plans of citizen security and contribute to preventing crimes and road infraction. Customers are becoming more aware of the sustainability and the efficient use of the energy. NLX is our client's first choice and agent of change. Now on page number six. With reference to our network during the second quarter, we have seen a partial recovery in the energy demand compared to the previous period. As a result, the aggregated energy distribution reached 7.9 , increasing 2% versus last year's period. We have increased the quality of our service and reduced our distribution loss rate from 5.21% to 5%, despite all the challenges we are facing. With reference to our actions towards the digitization of our processes, NL Distribution app reached more than 494,000 downloads, 30% higher than June 2020 cumulative figures. Our digital interaction has increased to 86% from 75% in the same period of the last year. On regulatory side, the final report on the distribution reference model shall be published in the following weeks. And the following regulatory report is expected to be issued by November 21. As we have mentioned, any discrepancy between regulators and companies' positions can be challenged in the expert panel instance. We expect that the regulator will release the final distribution during 2022. Regarding transmission tariff cycle 2020-2023, the regulator's report fixing the new tariff cycle will be published during the next weeks. It could be challenged in the expert panel instance, depending on the results of the several comments presented by different companies during the evaluation phase. we are expecting that the transmission tax decree to be published at the end of this year or very early 2022. On slide number seven, the application of the basic service law is affecting the level of OSDU debt. We are continuing to push in providing alternatives of payment to our clients and to promote the adoption of payment agreements. By June 21, We have finalized more than 62,000 payment agreements, of which 50% correspond to basic service law, and the other half corresponds to voluntary agreements, promoted by . Due to our efforts, our collection level managed with a slight improvement in second quarter 21. As of the end of June, the net overdue debt reached 180 million U.S. dollars, representing more than 543,000 clients, 20% increase versus last year. On a monthly basis, we have factorized around 32 million U.S. dollars, supporting part of our liquidity in the period. In our view, as already commented with you, the level of overdue accounts is going to materially increase during the next months. and will not be sustainable in the long term for the most vulnerable families once the condition of payments will come to normality. In that sense, a solution involving the state is crucial in this process. Now, I will hand over to Giuseppe. Giuseppe, it's your turn.
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