In the first nine months of the year, UTE obtained profits of US $ 385 million, according to the last published balance of the company by the Montevideo Stock Exchange. The numbers closed to September show that the profits were for $ 16,504 million in current terms, according to the comprehensive income for the year. In particular, between July and September, a strong jump in income stands out, product of energy sales abroad, particularly to Brazil.
At the same time, In the first nine months of the year, the company turned over $ 1,562 million (about US $ 36.4 million) to General Income, which determines a reduction in accumulated results for the referred amount.
Initially this year it is expected that the contributions to the State Fund are US $ 61.5 million, slightly less than half that in the previous year, and about US $ 110 million in 2022.
In addition, in the first half of the year there was also a contribution of US $ 6.1 million to the Energy Stabilization Fund (FEE). That fund had US $ 51 million at the beginning of the year that the company already used in its entirety during this 2021 due to the deficit in hydroelectric generation.
Weeks ago, the director of the Cabildo Abierto, Enrique Pées Boz, pointed out that the higher income from exports should be reflected in lower prices of energy paid by households and companies in 2022. This will depend on the decision made by the Executive Power regarding public rates, and the destination given to those higher profits.
Billing for energy sales
Between January and September, the company’s net operating income grew 43% and totaled $ 61,520 million, according to the balance.
The detailed photo shows that the performance of billing for electricity sales to the domestic market grew 8.2% measured in national currency in the year-on-year comparison, and totaled $ 44,654 million (US $ 1,041 million).
For its part, energy exports to the region reported a turnover of $ 16,123 million (about US $ 376 million, mostly to Brazil). In national currency, income from this concept was multiplied by 17 compared to the same period of the previous year.
Marketing abroad has been uninterrupted since January, but it gained strength especially from July, when Brazil saw accentuated the water deficit that plagues the south of its territory and that hits the generation of its hydroelectric dams.
Export numbers.
In the third quarter, 53% of accumulated sales so far this year were concentrated in the region (2,567 gigawatt hours (GWh), and represented revenues of US $ 276 million.
In particular, September was a record, with sales of 386 GWh to Brazil. To this were added purchases from Argentina for 294 GWh, whose demand so far had not been significant, according to data from the UTEi portal. During the ninth month of the year, 43% of the electricity produced in Uruguay was exported, according to SEG Engineering.
Record of generation and export of electricity in Uruguay in September.
43% of the electrical energy produced in the country was exported, a total of 680 GWh. pic.twitter.com/zAbqFZ4SNZ– SEG Engineering (@SEGIngenieria) October 4, 2021
On the other hand, among the sales costs, a higher expenditure on energy materials and lubricants stands out, which multiplied by seven and totaled $ 9,405 million (US $ 220 million) compared to $ 1,281 million in the same period last year.
This is largely due to increased use of thermal generation, both to supply the local market demand for lower contributions from Salto Grande, and to sell to the Brazilian market. UTE increased the purchase of fuels from Ancap and this is also reflected in the cash of the oil entity. In fact, this month the Executive Power again appealed to the good numbers of Ancap to freeze for the second consecutive month the price of fuels, even when the international reference indicated upward adjustments, both for gasoline and diesel.
