Buyers of electricity at risk of falling into the hands of “coyotes”: experts

Mexico City (Iliana Chávez / Energía Hoy) .- Specialists in the subject alerted buyers of electricity not to fall into the hands of coyotes known as “brokers”, who only seek to obtain commissions higher than even the contract signed by the companies, they commit them to long terms in adverse conditions that will generate losses.

During the panel “Opportunities of renewable energies for the commercial and industrial sector of Mexico”, as part of the activities of MirecWeek 2018, María José Treviño Melguizo, director of Business Development of Mexico for Acclaim Energy Advisors, said that much information is missing between Energy buyers, so unfortunately many are poorly advised.

He pointed out that there are many opportunities for the acquisition of electricity, but also many risks, especially in the part of the tariffs where volatilities of up to 60 percent are presented, so it is very important to be clear about the needs and objectives of the company .

You always have to evaluate the risks in aspects such as cincominutal consumption data and have a qualitative and quantitative analysis, a support, a coverage, a guarantee and the way to mitigate based on “a win, win”.

It is necessary, he added, “educate, educate”, have a good advice that comes from specialists in this segment of the energy sector to not fall into the hands of “coyores”, who sometimes press their “customers”, who end up taking a bad decision, and having a higher commission than the same contract.

In this regard, he referred to a case dealt with by Acclaim Energy Advisors, where a very harmful recommendation, a company had costs of 17 million dollars and penalties of thousands of dollars more.

Gerardo Cervantes, Energy Manager and Commercial Officer, Enel Green Power, commented that there are expert clients, others well advised, others proactive, and others who unfortunately arrive with “coyotes”, and some more bet on the return of the regulated rates of the CFE. “Focus the batteries of the decision to have if against the CFE regulated as before bad decision.”

He considered that acquiring electricity is like buying any other material in the production chain, but in this case it depends on risk management, if they are a company with an electricity consumption with life-changing needs they seek to be much more competitive, They should look for much simpler contracts.

“Fixed prices, for short periods of time, do not ship with 15 or 20 year contracts” in their entirety. Depending on the needs of the company, they can use a strategy of mixed prices, a part of fixed prices through renewables and another of floating prices through gas, and one more with another alternative.

Cervantes stressed that we are at the time of the buyer, to hire, but also to analyze and assess the “opportunities”, as is the case of renewable energy that for now represent more advantages over a longer period of time.

José Francisco Castro, Energy Planning Manager, Ternium, suggested balancing the energy portfolio with a combined cycle and a renewable cycle percentage to mitigate the volatility that could occur in gas prices, which guarantees certain certainty for long-term companies .

Finally, a manager of Thermion, stressed that there are always opportunities when the client is solvent and bankable, and especially when the financial cost is in dollars, since this cost is lower between 3 to 4 percent than if it is done in pesos.