ENEL vinde afacerile din Romania cum a vandut Bula rata Enel Tops the Super Toothbrush Salesman

Tot ce se poate ca exit-ul ENEL de pe piata romaneasca sa aiba legatura si cu situatia economica a multinationalei italiene, care a facut pasi uriasi, in sensul extinderii, intr-o perioada relativ scurta. Iar criza economica nu i-a iertat, pentru ca nu numai in Romania a scazut consumul de energie electrica, ci in in toata Europa. Daca este insa sa ne luam dupa zvonurile comform carora ENEL ar pretinde in jur de doua miliarde de euro pe afacerile din Romania, atunci judecata se schimba. Cu atat mai mult cu cat statul roman ar putea fi un pretendent la o parte din afacerile ENEL in Romania.

Va mai amintiti bancul cu Bula si cu rata? Statul roman ar putea ajunge in postura pacalitului, daca nu stie cum sa se pozitioneze in contextul plecarii ENEL din Romania. Nu exista niciun dubiu: ENEL detine aici cele mai bune societati de distributie energie electrica, in cele mai dezvoltate zone economice ale tarii. In general s-a vorbit despre fosta Electrica Muntenia Sud, ca Perla a Coroanei, cu circa 1,1 milioane de consumatori, la care se adauga insa filialele Banat si Dobrogea, cu inca aproape 1,4 milioane de consumatori. Daca nici asta nu-i afacere, atunci care e?

Sa revenim insa la promisiunile italienilor inainte si dupa momentul privatizarii Electrica Muntenia Sud. Fulvio Conti, presedintele Enel, declara la scurt timp dupa preluarea Electrica Muntenia Sud ca in aceasta societate vor fi investiti circa 1,5 miliarde de euro. Dar, atentie, in viitorii 15 ani. Iata cum:italienii au platit statului roman (in conturile Electrica) suma de 395 milioane euro (ulterior din acesti bani a fost platit si comisionul pentru consultant), care reprezinta un pachet de 50% din actiuni, dar a avut grija sa-si lase si pentru investitii 425 milioane euro. Aceasta suma, reprezinta majorarea de capital facuta de italieni la Muntenia Sud in asa fel incat pachetul detinut de Enel sa ajunga la 67,5%. Teoretic acesti bani ar trebui sa se regaseasca in investitii la Electrica Muntenia Sud.

Ca orice investitor strain strategic prezent pe piata energetica din Romania, ENEL a investit din profiturile pe care le-a facut aici si pe care vi le-am prezentat in articolul precedent. Dovada o face chiar fostul director general al ENEL Romania, Luca D’Agnese, care declara in urma cu cativa ani ca “reteaua de electricitate din Romania este la nivelul la care era cea din Italia in anul 1995”. Credeti ca acuma este altfel? Este suficient sa facem o razie prin cateva cartiere rezidentiale noi de la marginea Bucurestiului si sa constatam ca multe nici macar nu au avize de racordare la retea. Sau au avize provizorii. “Bucurestiul se dezvolta cu o viteza foarte mare. Urmatoarea perioada ne asteptam sa fie destul de agitata din punctul de vedere al avariilor”, a declarat inaintea izbucnirii crizei economice directorul general al Electrica Muntenia Sud, Luigi Giliotti.

Giliotti a avut dreptate, din punctul de vedere al avariilor, numai ca investitiile nu au tinut cont de asta.

Ministrul economiei, Constantin Nita, confirma si el ceea ce am spus mai sus: “ne-am asteptat ca, prin privatizarea companiilor de distributie, calitatea serviciilor sa creasca, dar nu este asa, cele mai multe reclamatii le avem in ceea ce priveste companiile private. Este vorba de calitatea investitiilor si de relatia cu clientii. Este timpul ca aceste companii sa se alinieze la standardele europene si in ceea ce priveste piata din Romania, trebuie ca aceste companii sa-si revizuiasca politica de distributie a energiei in Romania”, a spus Nita.

Luca d`Agnese ne mai da si el un argument in plus: “in prezent, durata medie a intreruperilor in zonele operate de Enel in Romania, adica Muntenia Sud, Banat si Dobrogea, este de circa 307 minute pe an, adica putin peste 5 ore. Durata intreruperilor este mai mica decat cea din 2011, cand era de 374 de minute. In 2010, durata intreruperilor era de 585 de minute. Comparativ, in Italia, durata intreruperilor este de 45 de minute pe an. In 1995, intreruperile erau de 3-4 ore pe an.”, a explicat d`Agnese. Potrivit acestuia, si in Romania va mai dura inca 10-15 ani pentru a se atinge nivelul retelelor din Vest.

Cum italienii nu au rezolvat problema aceasta, s-o faca cel ce le va cumpara afacerea. Poate chiar statul roman. Si atunci de ce am mai privatizat Electrica Muntenia Sud, Electrica Banat si Electrica Dobrogea? Ca sa incaseze ENEL doua miliarde de euro din vanzarea lor? Halal afacere pentru statul roman. Enel’s exit from the Romanian market might well be linked with its own economic market, after the huge expansion steps taken very quickly. Economic crisis was unforgiving, as energy consumption dropped throughout Europe, not just in Romania. If we believe the rumors that the Italians ask for two billion euros for their business here, however, everything changes – all the more that the Romanian state might be a buyer for some of it.

The state should carefully avoid taking the bait. There’s no doubt Enel has the best electricity distribution operations in Romania, in the country’s most advanced regions. The former Electrica Muntenia Sud (EMS) Company was dubbed the crown jewel of the energy industry, and the Banat (west) and Dobrogea (southwest) subsidiaries add nearly 1.4 million consumers to it. Now it that doesn’t mean business, what does?

Let’s get back to Italians’ promises made before and after the privatization of EMS. Enel President Fulvio Conti promised shortly afterwards investments roughly amounting to 1.5 billion euros. Note: over 15 yearsi. That’s how: Enel paid just 395 million euros – of which some went to the consultant’s fee – for 50 percent of EMS’s shares; it kept aside 425 million euros for investments, and added it to the company’s capital, thus reaching a share of 67.5 percent of it. Theoretically, this sum should be found in EMS’s investments.

Just like your regular strategic investor in Romania, Enel got its investment money from the profits it made here – we mentioned the sums in our previous article. To prove it, former Enel Romania general manager Luca D’Agnese declared a couple of years ago, ”Romania’s electricity grid is at the level of Italy’s back in 1995.” Do you think anything changed meanwhile? A quick control in some of the new residential neighborhoods on the outskirts of Bucharest would find many of them lacking even the grid connection authorizations, or working on provisional permits. “”Bucharest develops at a high rate. We expect the coming period to bring trouble in terms of outages,” ESM general manager Luigi Giliotti said before the economic crisis hit.

He was right about the malfunctions, but investment ignored the matter.

Economy minister Constantin Nita also confirmed our thesis above. “We had expected that the privatization of the distribution companies resulted in higher quality of services; it did not. Most of the complaints concern the private companies. It’s about the quality of investments and about the relation with the customers. It’s time for these companies to come into line with European standards also as regards the Romanian market; they must review their electricity distribution policy in Romania,” he said.

Luca d’Agnese comes up with another argument. “Currently, the average downtime in the Romanian areas covered by Enel, that is Muntenia (south), Banat and Dobrogea is around 307 minutes per year , that is a little more than 5 hours. The downtime is below the 2011 level of 374 minutes. In 2010, the figure was 585 minutes. As a term of comparison, in Italy the outages are 45 minutes per year . In 1995, they were 3-4 hours per year,” he explained. He estimated that Romania needs 10 or 15 more years to reach the level of the electricity grids in western countries.

As Italians failed to solve the problem, let the buyers who take over from them deal with it – perhaps the Romanian state itself. Why did we even bother to privatize EMS, Electrica Banat and Electrica Dobrogea – to let Enel pocket 2 billion euros from selling them again? That’s some business; it beats the one of the super toothbrush salesman in the old joke. He used to offer chips and dip to draw customers, then when these complained it tasted like shit, he confirmed, “it IS shit” – and sold them toothbrushes. At least, his trick did not involve selling back to people their own merchandise.