Earnings Call: Q3 2024

Nov 5, 2024

Summary

Q3 EBITDA declined 16.7% YoY amid weak hydrology, but net income rose 35%, aided by risk-management instruments. Solar, transmission and storage assets advanced as the power system faced tight reserves and high thermal-generation needs.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Gonzalo Velásquez from the communications team for CELSIA, and I want to invite you and welcome you to the meeting of the trimester results 2024. Ricardo Sierra, leader of CELSIA, Esteban Piedrahita, financial leader of the company, Santiago Arango, corporate business, and Carlos Solano, leader of regulatory matters, are here today. This teleconference is being held on Zoom, but it is also transmitted live through the X platform. At this moment, all the Zoom platforms are in listening mode, and we have reserved a space at the end for your questions, so you can ask them once the presentation is over. This conference has interpretation from Spanish to English. If you are using your computer, you can choose the language by choosing the interpretation icon at the right bottom of the screen. If you are using a digital or a mobile phone, please click on the plus button at the right bottom of the screen and choose the interpretation option. If you do not want to listen to the presentation in the background, please click on mute original sound. We want to thank you very much for being online in this teleconference. Now I hand the floor to Ricardo Sierra, leader of CELSIA. Welcome, Ricardo. Thank you very much, Gonzalo, and good afternoon to those joining us today in this Zoom connection and the live space that we have through X. This is an hour different from our conference of results, but we are loaded with information to share with you about the closing of the third trimester, quarter of 2024. Welcome. I want to start with a comment about the pressure of the monthly pressure. As you know, between 2023 and April 2024, we had the phenomenon of El Niño, and as a consequence of the same, the country reached the level of the aggregated reservoir, the lowest in the last 20 years. They recovered between the months of May and June, and we saw something in July, reaching an aggregated reservoir of 60%. However, this variability of the climate that was observed in August and September has taken us to a decrease of the aggregated reservoir, located at the end of the trimester in 50.2%. The climate models are indicating that the temperatures of the surface of the sea in the Pacific are continuing to be cold, and that will favor the development of La Niña. But the prognosis has established that it is delaying, and it will be short, starting in this last quarter of the year. What should be a transition month in the interconnected system, became a period more alike to the El Niño phenomenon, with the generation of a water phenomenon. The area reservoir that corresponds to marginalized space registered in the third quarter an average of COP 366 of kilowatt per hour, and the scarcity was located lower. As you can see in the graph, you can see how the evolution of that price was and how it had a stretch that has been very intense over the last month. In the midst of these conditions, today, we are reporting the results in the EBITDA with 24.5, the average 3 million, and they are in the 24.5%, the margin, without looking at the previous month. The capacity of the company and the measurements adopted in the previous years allowed us to grow 35%, and the parent company 27%, and that reached. Despite that we had a decrease in the EBITDA, our net utility grew very healthily over the quarter. These positive results are mainly in measurements in order to mitigate the phenomenon of El Niño. First place, I want to talk about a transaction that all of you know from 2019 when we sold the Termoflores thermal plant. Give me one second, please, because we are having a technical difficulty. In the X account of Gonzalo, apparently. Okay, let's continue here. I am in Gonzalo Velásquez's account. Apparently, there is a problem and I was not being heard from the X account. Now I'm going to read a few paragraphs, and I wanted to explain a little bit about the climate volatility that has been, and the pressure of the water. Later, we are going to talk about that and the volatility that it has had. The prices have been, of course, answering to that need of the last kilowatt available in the country. In addition to that, I was mentioning that the financial resource, despite having an EBITDA of COP 345 million, if you compare it will represent a decrease of 17%. The net result was an earn of 35% and the parent company of 27%. Those are numbers that reach COP 110 million, COP 74 million respectively during the quarter. These positive results in the net income are mainly in a measurement thought about mitigating the phenomenon of El Niño. I want to talk about 2019, when we sold the thermal power plant, Termoflores, that had a superior capacity. We had a prime for $35 million, but we had the option for that to be paid in a model of purchase sell of energy. This option allows us to have energy available in dry moments, and that happened in 2020, 2023, and the total in 2024 of 460 gigawatt hours. This is equivalent to the energy produced by three PCH, additionally, of 20 megawatts that are working. The exercise of this option ended recently, and just as it allowed us to manage the risk of El Niño, it was also a good decision, if you think about how to improve to include this operation of optionality of $35 million in energy that help us 90 points of the profitability of this asset, reaching 19% in total. On the other hand, we have been heard speak in the last teleconference about climate derivatives that we have acquired since last year, with the purpose of covering precisely the long period of low contributions that we have observed. For the execution of these financial coverages, we have received $14.8 million, which has allowed us to manage the risk during the last few months. These are sources and instruments that allow us to present shareholders today with an increase in profit despite the recent difficulties in the sector. That means that through options of energy and climate derivatives that are not only but very innovative options that have not been used in Colombia to mitigate risk, we carried out them. That has allowed us to obtain really good results over the last quarter. Let's talk about our projects here. Both our vision of operators at the energy services business and that of asset manager come together. We are very happy and proud because we put into operation the first solar energy storage system in Colombia with batteries, which marks a milestone in the energy transition process that we promote in CELSIA. The system is part of the CELSIA Solar Palmira 2. The combination of solar panels with batteries manages to overcome the paradigm of intermittence and allows us to improve the generation profile, adapting to the conditions demanded by customers and the market. The use of this technology helps us to continue advancing in diversifying our energy metrics and encourages us to continue innovating for our customer. Likewise, we can tell you that we are really eager of this new asset that comes to improve the possibilities of availability of energy for our clients. We believe that you are going to start to listen a lot from CELSIA, the growth in battery as a complement of our generational strategies in the service of the clients. Likewise, we also have progress in the Carreto Wind project. You can see some beautiful images of the blades that are entering the places where they are going to be installed. The equipment for this project has already arrived, which will deliver 9.6 MW of clean and renewable energy. The transfer of these 8-meter long blades on the Caribbean roads require an important logistical process to be able to transport them from the port of Mamonal in Cartagena to the municipality of Juan de Acosta in the department of Atlántico. This project is a demonstration that you can find wind in other parts of the country, and we can continue growing in the clean and efficient energy with this resource, that is renewable, which is the wind. We hope to have this project in operation at the end of December or at the beginning of next year. Let's continue with the management. These platforms allow us to accelerate the growth in the strategic business of the company, maintaining operational management and project execution. Let's see the state of C2 Energía. This is the big platform of solar plants. This platform has 3,339 MW in 19 solar plants, and they have produced 3,372 gigawatt hours over the year with an availability factor of 95%. These plants in operation have long-term PPA with customers and/or deliver energy to the SIN. The EBITDA margin of this platform is reaching 83%, and total is COP 112,000 million in the course of the year, with a growth of 47%. In C2, also, we have 270 MW under construction in 12 projects, and in different stages of development, there are 632 MW. We hope to have in operation, as you can see in this slide, 1,254 MW for 2030. It's something really impressive to multiply over four times the availability of solar energy that we are going to have as a company, and likely, in terms of the batteries that are coming, these numbers should also grow in a proportion that is very important. The Laurel platform, which develops a smaller scale solar project, there we have in operation 48 MW in 123 systems that have produced 33.6 gigawatt hours during the year with an availability factor of 98%. Laurel has an EBITDA margin of 39% and adds up to COP 4,870 million. On this platform, we have additional projects for approximately 60 MW. If you see everything that we have in this platform and what we hope to have for 2026, we are hoping to reach 108 MW in total. The transmission platform has operation assets totaling COP 2.5 trillion, have tripled in the last four years, and have an availability factor of 99.9%. In the year, Caoba has incorporated 12 new projects that were developed by the company, and that represented revenues of approximately COP 313 billion. In the course of the year, Caoba reached EBITDA of COP 229 million. Now, let's talk about the Tesorito platform, a natural gas thermal plant with a capacity of 200 MW that serve as a support for the system. In the quarter, it had a generation of 79.3 gigawatt hours that balanced the lack of energy in the hydraulics, and thus we fulfill our contracts from reliable and competitive energy sources, maintaining a balanced commercial risk profile. It's important to mention that Tesorito has a gas contract with Canacol that is activated when it's 95% of reaching the shortage price, and the plant has maintained the availability of gas for its operation. In the year, Tesorito accumulated a generating of 279 gigawatt hours with a variation of -34.7%, and its EBITDA margin is 35%, reaching COP 107,000 million. Additionally, this platform has the feasibility studies and environmental license for an expansion of 200 MW in addition to that. Before giving way to Esteban for a brief comment on the results, I remind you that we continue with the development of our share buyback program. We have executed 22.9% of the amount approved by our shareholders' meeting, which has resulted in 16.9 million shares bought back to date. Since we announced the start of the buyback program in December this year, the stock price has risen more than 55%, and the average daily volume traded has multiplied 2.6 times compared to that of 2023. We hope to start buying back again tomorrow through the exchange's transactional mechanism after the closure period prior to this delivery of results. Now, I hand the floor and welcome Esteban. Thank you, Ricardo. Good afternoon for everyone who are here joining online in this wonderful winter day when the water is coming the way we need it. The analysis of results and the other financial information, you can see them in the reports in the website. In the third quarter, revenues totaled COP 1.4 billion, showing a decrease of 5% compared to the same period in 2023. These results are mainly due to less asset transfer to the Caoba and the Laurel platforms for 2024 in the last quarter are being loaded for this year. In Colombia, we have lowest average stock market price in the quarter, and we have a reduction in the Central America region associated with the divestment of assets carried in the whole quarter of 2023. In the accumulated year, revenues reached COP 4.7 billion, growing 3%. In the distribution of total revenues per year, 81% is contributed by energy services with COP 3.82 trillion, and asset management contributes 19% with COP 871 billion. The quarter sale cost reached COP 1.07 billion, registering a 1% decrease due to lower costs of public goods and services and general cost of the operation. In the accumulated year, sales cost totaled COP 3.6 billion, with an increase of 13%. Administrative expenses reached COP 85.5 billion, with an increase of 11.7%. The increase in the quarter is mainly due to the personal expenses, leases, equipment maintenance, that are very cyclic. In the accumulated year, the expenses reached COP 273 billion, growing 7.3%. EBITDA for the third quarter was COP 345 million, with a reduction of 16.7%. After the presence of El Niño in the countries, the EBITDA had a recovery that was very important during the first part of this quarter, reaching a margin for the months of July and August of almost 28.4%. That represents 350 points that we have informed in the second quarter of 2024. Due to the affectation that Ricardo was mentioning, in September, the thermal plants, propias and El Tesorito, started to generate to balance our portfolio, and that increased the cost of generation and transferences by El Tesorito. Due to that, the accumulated margin of the quarter was 24.5%, aligned with the one registered this year. At the end of September, the accumulated EBITDA of the year reaches COP 1.13 billion, of which the energy services business contributes COP 1.08 billion, and the asset management business contributes COP 35 billion. The managed EBITDA, which includes our management of investment platforms in these 9 months of the year, amounts to COP 1.47 billion, and that's what we call the total. Net financial expenses, including difference in exchange, reached COP 134 billion, with a decrease of 38.3% compared to the same period of the previous year. The decrease corresponds to the lower interest payments due to the improvement in the conditions in the interest rates and for a difference. By the end of September, it's located at 12.5%, and the net at COP 451 million, and that represents a reduction of 34.2%. Profit taxes were COP 41 billion in the quarter and increased 21% compared to the same period of the previous year. In the cumulative year, taxes totaled COP 106 billion, representing a decrease of 35%, explained by the taking of the tax benefit linked to the Law 1715 for the entry into operation of several solar farms in 2023, and Ricardo was mentioning that in the presentation. The net profit for the quarter was COP 110,288 million, with a growth of 35%. The cumulative year totals COP 279,000 million. The net profit attribute to the owners of the controlling company reached COP 74,000 million, and accumulated year on year reached COP 193 million. In the debt, we had COP 5.35 trillion, and a leverage indicator of 3.23 times net to the EBITDA. The EBITDA closed the quarter in COP 215 billion. However, we want to mention that this amount could have been higher by approximately COP 80 billion if the subsidies of strata 1, 2, and 3 paid by the government had entered, that it used to be or used to happen, and that will be COP 300,000 million. Ricardo, just finish the analysis of the financial figures accumulated for the year. Thank you very much, Esteban. Esteban is going to Peru to see the ideas and operation that we are developing in Peru, and maybe in the questions, we will be able to talk about that. I would like to highlight in the results that we came with an important recovery in the operations in the months of July and August, but that the low availability of water resources lowered the momentum we brought. In any case, the net result was above, as mentioned, and at the beginning of a stance out for a long, dry year. Given the situation of contribution availability of gas, I would like to invite Carlos Solano, our leader of regulatory matters, to briefly tell us the news we have. Carlos, welcome. Thank you, Ricardo. Good afternoon to all those accompanying us in today's meeting. The most prominent regulatory issue in recent days is the activation of the shortage statute since September 30 due to the evolution of the aggregated reservoir below a reference level previously defined by the CREG. As a result of the low hydrology that Ricardo mentioned in August and September, and what was also happening in October, to which it is added that the shortage price had not exceeded the shortage price, so the thermal generation had not been activated to the maximum. This statute essentially seeks to increase the aggregated reservoir through the achievement of a thermal generation goal defined by the CREG, where to achieve this goal, the offers of the hydro plants are intervened. The energy not produced by the hydro plants due to this intervention is subsequently remunerated under a figure called sold and embalsada energy. It is important to mention CELSIA has a good position in the face of this situation due to the balance of its portfolio between hydro and thermal, which means that it does not receive significant impacts as a result of the activation of this statute. The second relevant issue is the intervention by the Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios to the Air-e company on September 12. So far, the main effect is the portfolio that was frozen as a result of the intervention and in which the exposure of CELSIA and its platforms is low. Our management through the guilds has been focused on promoting so that the government has the necessary resources so that Air-e duly complies with its payment commitments to the system. Ricardo, those are the topics that we wanted to mention in the sector. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. In the question, if someone wants more clarity about the statute and the situation of the system, please go ahead. I want to tell you that last week, we filled COP 16 with energy, with very good messages. We were in a conversation about the role of biodiversity in the future of businesses and how to integrate nature into the business strategy through care and conservation actions, which allow to create integral value as levers for sustainability and strategic growth. We had events with clients and many groups of interest, and we had wonderful guests. We had Paula Caballero, and she's a Colombian. Wonderful intervention. Andrew Winston, who is one of these gurus in these areas and writer of three books, and has a very important book called Net Positive. They shared their visions about the mega 10 trends and the topics related about how to achieve a commitment or a balance between the needs of the market and the need of sustainability. We finished our report of the third quarter. Now we invite you to have a space of conversation to deepen about the information that is important to you. Gonzalo, thank you very much. Ricardo, Esteban from the airport, and Carlos, who is also here. Now, let's go to our round of questions. Those who are in Zoom can ask questions through the chat box, or you can raise your hand. Those who are in X, we can see that the sound was missing. They reacted very briefly, so they are very attentive, and they can ask their question. We have a question from Juan Pulgarín. Juan asks, "CELSIA is growing over the inflation. The closing projection is to increase growth over that, and in case it's a positive answer, how many points over?" Esteban, please, if you have the possibility to answer Juan's question. Of course, Gonzalo. Juan, exactly how many points, I cannot tell you because we have not done the calculations. But the growth over inflation, of course, we have been deploying new assets, not only at the level of the platforms, as we have mentioned, the C2 and Caoba growth and the stabilization of El Tesorito over this year. All those are elements that contribute that. In fact, our utility continues growing because our base of asset is bigger. The same thing happens in the business of energy. The growth was not the same as it was before opening the platform. We are still deploying investment in new assets, especially in the topic related to transmission and distributions, and there is where we have had more recurrences in terms of investment. On the other side, we have what we have mentioned in previous calls, and it's related to the reduction of the cost of debt. That was a topic that we have mentioned in the high IPC. Then that our incomes were aligned with the cost. Once they go back to a regular situation, it will give us a positive answer in terms of the utility. So you can see it is basically the real growth in asset and also the reduction of the operational cost at normal levels that will help us to have a growth in terms of the profit. Thank you very much, Esteban, for answering that question from Juan Pulgarín. Now Katherine Ortiz. She's from Corredores Davivienda. Katherine, please go ahead so you can ask your question. Hello, how are you? Good afternoon. Can you hear me well? Loud and clear. Okay, thank you for the presentation. I would like to talk further about the topics that Carlos Solano mentioned at the end, and also to understand if you, and we saw that the closing of the reservoirs was 27%, very low level. For you, this situation is more concerning than what we experienced at the beginning of the year with the phenomenon of El Niño, and to understand if you think that there is a high probability, or what is the level of probability to have blackout in Colombia at the beginning of next year, when we start to see that while the reservoirs do not answer adequately to what we should have at this time of the year, we could have a risk of blackout at the beginning of next year if we are in summer. Also, to understand more in detail about the shortage statute, because CELSIA had this diversification. There were not material effects, but I want to understand if that energy is being paid, how it is being compensated, at what price, and to understand more in detail the effect of that statute, what level of the reservoirs activates that, how long could it last? I do not know if you can help me with that. Thank you. Okay, Katherine Ortiz, very good questions. Here with Carlos Solano, we are going to try to answer them. First, I am going to give you some context, Carlos Solano, and then I hand you the floor so you can explain a little bit more about the shortage statute and how. [Foreign language] Te estoy escuchando. Sí, señor. [Foreign language] Es que tenemos un problema técnico con el X. We have a technical issue with X. Okay, Katherine Ortiz, I want to tell you our vision. The shortage is that the first time that is activated in Colombia. [Foreign language] Disculpen, estamos teniendo algunos problemas. Sorry, we are having some technical difficulties. Katherine Ortiz, everyone, I am going to give you the context about what we are seeing. The shortage statute is the first time that is being applied in Colombia. So it is something that we are entering into a scenario that is very well prepared for, in a scenario where the recovery curve of reservoir did not comply with the curve of reference. It could be activated in a preventive way and activate all the measurements. So we will not miss a kilowatt during the summer. There is a very complete study that was just released by the CNO, and they carried out important analysis about the projections of needs of energy for the following months and years. Let me give you a vision of what we are feeling. First, today in Colombia, there is not a single thermal that is not on. All the thermal of the country are at full capability to save water. What has happening is that this last month have been in deficit. The projection, Katherine Ortiz, is that we are going to go with the thermal to the full to spend the next summer between January and March, and we will be turning off them during March. That is what the projections show. So we are going to have complex moments because the system is very stressed. We are expecting for everything to work perfectly, and the margins of security, they just finish. Carlos Solano, can you complement the vision? Thank you, Ricardo Sierra. I will be giving you more information about the context. The situation that we have as a system is that from one side, the margin between offer and demand has been reducing because the generation capability of the country is not growing at the same time of the demand. What is required by the electric system every time is smaller. That, we add to what Carlos Solano just mentioned, we have a water hydrology that are very low, and those two aspects take the system to a very complex situation. So how can this be monitored? The main element created for that is the reference for the reservoirs, a curve, and those values change day by day, month by month, defined by the CREG. In essence, it means that if the aggregated reservoir is in that area or above that, we are okay. But when the aggregated reservoir goes beyond that area, the alerts start because we have no space. That is what happened last September 30. From that moment, the activation of the shortage statute, that is how it was explained, consists in finding some measurements to force the thermal plants that are on. In essence, what it is done, the offer of the hydro plants that enter to the office in a normal way, but are pushing the thermal. They start to have a superior price, so they do not go away, and force to have the thermal generation. We have been with this measurement till September 30, and today the aggregated reservoir is in 56%, and we are 5 percentual point up below the descent. That indicates that for November 30, we should be in the 68% when the summer start. But the hydrology is evolving. Even if we have an extraordinary high hydrology from the remaining numbers or days of November, we are going to reach the 68. That does not mean there is going to be a blackout, but we are going to be in a very complex situation. As Ricardo Sierra was mentioning, the consequence of that is that we are going to need to have a thermal generation very high for a long period of time, and the risk is that one of the thermal plants will fail due to that continuous operation of the system. Here, the regular or the periodic are contemplated, but not something that will be long-lasting over time, and that is the risk. That is to answer the question about the remuneration. Let me tell you that those hydro offers that intervene, those plants are not left aside, but the water that is saved is going to be given to the offer price. Some thermal plants are going to start to be put aside, and that depends on the portfolio of hydro and thermal. Some that have hydro could have some liquidity difficulties in the way the market is being liquid settled these days. It could have some negative impacts. The advantage that we have at CELSIA is that we have a very diversified portfolio, have hydro and have thermal, and that gives us the opportunity to have a very solid and resilient position. How much it will last? That is the last question to ask. That will remain until the aggregated reservoir will be above the path of reference, and we prevail that in the next weeks, the shortage statute will continue remain active. Thank you very much. Wonderful explanation. I was just thinking about a small question. In terms of gas for the thermal and everything that has been discussed in terms of the gas, do you see a scenario? I know that El Tesorito has some specifications in that matter, but you see a scenario of risk in the fuel for the thermal plants? Well, I think that we have a great advantage, and it is that we have the option of gas purchase that is activated in the 95% of the level of the scarcity, and that allows us to have a very good coverage. But clearly, today, we depend or rely on the important gas that is very high. What we see in the 5 days of the plant, we had to move gas from the interior of the country, and we had the opportunity to help on that, giving the totality of the gas that we have for El Tesorito and Meriléctrica. There are two things, Katherine. There are not many molecules available. EPM had a communication that they had not reached their percentage of the month for 2025, and we are buying in dollars a natural gas that is very volatile in its price. So we are generating a very high cost to cover the needs of the country. I think it is a combination that is not so good. Very sadly, we lack domestic molecules, and we are replacing them with molecules brought from abroad. There are no contracts to attend with the internal demand, but those who know that are the ones who are in the business of natural gas of the homes. Thank you, Katherine. Thank you very much to you. Now we hand the floor to Ricardo Sandoval from Bancolombia, who is also on the Zoom call raising his hand. Please, Ricardo, go ahead. Ricardo, you can ask your question. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. I would like to ask some questions to Carlos and Ricardo about the price, the ponderated price on the stock market that we saw in October, that it is over COP 1,500. I want to know the weighted price of COP 1,500. It is basically three times of what we saw in February this year when the reservoir had very low levels of water. I understand the regulatory topic that Carlos just explained very deeply, but it still calls my attention, that elevated price, especially when the weighted shortage price is about COP 917, COP 1,000. I would like to know why the price on the stock market is reaching that level, and especially when you see the offer of the price per fuel. You see that the hydroelectrical plants, and especially on September 30, they were charging COP 5,000 kilowatts per hour. I would like to know if the electric Colombian system is not taking into account, or is taking into account a blackout that is imminent and that will take the prices to this level. The second, it is about the dynamic that generator and electric commercialization has in this scenario of prices, though the prices of the contracts are around COP 300 and COP 400, and in the stock market, the kilowatt per hour is in COP 1,500. I would like to know if that means that in case of a company does not have the possibility to comply with a kilowatt per hour 300 needs to go out and buy at COP 1,500 in order for that kilowatt at COP 300. I would like to know about the dynamic of market that could be generated of the different prices that you see in the contract prices and the prices on the market. I would like to know if CELSIA have had, at any point during October, any type of these events. Thank you. Ricardo, your questions are really good, and they are helpful to move forward in the dynamic of the importance of relation to the shortage price in terms of the demand in Colombia, and what happens after those shortage prices, we pass them, and why are these crazy prices there. Those are prices that are reached by the shortage statute. Thank you, Ricardo. Now I go to Ricardo, to the one who asked those questions. I'm going to start with the last part that Ricardo just mentioned. Look, in Colombia, the market or the stock market, the buyers are the scarcity price. So your question, if any buyer, let's say a distributor of energy that has not covered all their demand of country, has a part in the box, they buy that today it's around COP 970. Those are transactions between generators, but that does not affect the buyers. That's the first thing to take into account. But why are there transactions between generator? People do not understand that very well, Carlos. So, for example, let's say that at this moment, since the price of the market is over the shortage price, we are with the obligations of energy activated. So every time we see a generator, if it comply with the generation of energy and the ones who cover and has an excess, it's usually covering or complementing the generator that did not comply with the firm energy. That needs to pay to the difference between the scarcity price and the price in the stock market. So that is what I mean. The price that goes over COP 970, it's transaction between generators, but does not affect the buyers on the purchase that attends to the final customer. So what happened between February up to date? In February, the system was established without enabling the statute. We were in the more important point, close to the scarcity price. So when the topic became more critic, remember the government took a measurement to force the thermal energy as a security part. That is not a technical way from our perspective to manage the situation because that is being paid by all the Colombians via restrictions, independently if they have or not energy contracts. At this moment, the government is living their and those who do not have contract, they have an affectation level that is limited by the scarcity price and the mechanism from their own is operating as the way I'm mentioning. But what changed is that right now they are allowing to operate the market and we reach those prices because those are the necessary prices to generate or activate the most expensive plants that the country has, and they use it for a few hours. Taking into account a series of topics that are included in the calculation of the price, we reach those elevated values in comparison to the ones we saw last February. That is the explanation of your question. Ricardo, I'm going to complement what Carlos says, and this shows the initial point that there is a clear unbalance between the unit generation that the country is generating versus the reality of the demand. We are missing a higher level of security. So if today we had 600, 500 megawatts more thermal, we were missing in the last auction. We will not be in this place. It's a message, Ricardo, that we need to accelerate and to help the project to be unlocked and to have auction for new energy and firm energy that will help Colombia to have a safety margin that is stronger. To conclude, Ricardo, with your question in relation to the impacts on CELSIA. From the generation areas, explaining the content of the conference, in a situation like this, the fact that CELSIA has a portfolio that is half thermal and half hydro, that allows us that the low hydrology that we have, we compensate that, not specifically in exact amounts, but we compensate this with the generation of thermal because we are in a scarcity that in El Tesorito and Meriléctrica are active and that are generating good amounts that compensate the hydro generation. As commercialized distributors, we have a good level of contracting, and there is a good part, and it is a part relatively small. I want to conclude with something. There is a regulatory disposition that allows that when this happen directly, the Amount takes to the average price of the contract. Today it is around COP 450, COP 500. In addition to that, it's our to protect the clients, that there will not be a strong impact for this situation. So our clients are going to have a level of increase in the price as it's happening. Gracias, Carlos. Thank you, Carlos. Maybe two clarifications. The first is the price that is by transaction between generators. It affects the final user. But it's going to be collected. Okay, let's say this. The price that we are seeing of COP 1,500, everything that is above the scarcity price, COP 970, it will not affect the final user, not today nor in the future. That is what the final user pays, and what happens from there up is a topic related between the transaction between the generators. So when we are in scarcity price, for example, COP 970, that does not go to the ESMS, but it goes to one and a half times the average price of the contract. As you were asking in your question, today, the average price is around COP 300, COP 320, one and a half times that, it's around COP 470. So that is reflected in the present up to COP 470. The difference between COP 470 and COP 970, that is account receivable, and it will be taken to the invoice when that reduces below the one time when we have passed that difficult condition. That will be reflected for some time in the rate. That happens, it's only for the energy that is in the exchange. Thank you, Esteban. Ricardo, did you have more questions? No, with this intervention, I'm extremely clear. Thank you very much. Very good question, Ricardo and Katherine. I think that helps you to understand a very complex and regulatory situation that we didn't experience before in Colombia. Okay, very well. Now let's go to Air-e. Juan Pablo Ramirez is asking, "The portfolio of CELSIA with Air-e, what is the percentage? And with the other company of the coast, with Afinia, how much is the portfolio to September 24? Thank you very much. Okay, Esteban, go ahead. Juan, the portfolio that we have with Air-e and with everything related to estimation, maybe we are waiting for the last certification, but in totality, when we have COP 24 trillion, that is what we would see and be on risk. The first comment is that those COP 24 trillion correspond to the activity of representation, and that means that everything that Celsia Colombia accumulated, but that doesn't mean that that's the risk of Celsia Colombia. The risk, it's around COP 3 million that correspond to the direct sales of contracts, now some remaining of energy. The other parties at risk of portfolio that platforms assume, especially to Caoba, which is the owner of the Plan 5 Caribe, which are the assets that basically pay for the systems of the Caribbean, and the one corresponds to Resolution 121. Carlos, you can correct me if I'm wrong. That was a deferral of 20% that CREG applied. The second one, it's El Tesorito, which is the company of all this ecosystem that is selling energy. For us, for the members of the organization, we expect the impact to be around COP 3,000 million. Of course, we are waiting for the final exercise of the account to carry out the projections of this year. With Air-e, since it's a checking portfolio, I don't have the answer right now immediately, but with the team, we can tell you what is the balance that we have for the end of the quarter. Complementing what you are mentioning, the portfolio that you mentioned is a portfolio that was frozen, because let's remember that when an intervention is applied, all the debts per intervention are frozen, that for legal matters. But after that, up to this moment, Air-e has been complying in a regular way with its obligation with the system, including CELSIA and all the payments that correspond to the invoices for September were done in October. They did it correctly. Now let's go with Juan José Muñoz, who is going to do his intervention from the Zoom platform. Good afternoon, everyone, from BTG Pactual. I have a question related to Central America. I would like to know, to understand, what vision do you have in regards to the operation in Central America, and what do you expect to do with the asset that you have there? Taking into account that every time it contributes less to the operation, to the EBITDA. I think that this trimester was around $1 million only, and I would like to understand strategically what would you like to do there. Thank you, and thank you for the presentation. Thank you for your question. We remain with B2B asset and with the option of a project in Costa Rica. We have a B2B very vibrant in Honduras that is also growing. We have over 60 megawatts in solar matters and with the possibility of expansion, that is very important. In addition to that, we have some very valuable asset. We have a substation that is important for the transmission system that we could use and incorporate an asset. We are having conversation to see how we can manage the asset, what we have as a backup there with a Cativá plant that remain there. So with the team, we are working two hands, developing those two options. Central America is moving very much. One is moving in terms of generation. We are closing some important contracts in Honduras. Eventually, we are closing some important contracts in solar aspects with an eolic part that is important for Guatemala. We are in a role of developers. It is a role that allows us to identify opportunities. We have a technical and commercial team deployed in the region, and we have them deployed for the operation of the assets. That allows us to be very attentive for opportunities of growth that will be very interesting for the company. You mentioned something really important, that we have lowered to the presentation of Central America, but we have the task for the next conference to see what is the future of those assets and what are the options that we have. That will be it. Thank you, Juan José. Now, a question that Juan Pulgarín had left about the repurchase of actions. Is the administration satisfied with the repurchase of the actions? Is it possible to see and evaluate the cancellation of that and have a metamorphosis and the increase of the dividends? We are very happy with the evolution. When we see the jump of the price of the action to 50%, the volume multiplied almost 3 times, and also the dynamic that we are having from some investors and understanding the difference, as you can see. We are very happy with the exercise, but we have a board that periodically reviews how the program is working, and maybe next year, we can evaluate that, what you are mentioning. Okay. There are a few comments. Anonymous attendee says, "Very good results. Congratulations for those who make possible CELSIA to continue growing despite the difficulties of the day to day." Thank you very much. Katherine Ortiz, "We are also attentive to the investors talk. We had a situation that day that we prepared with much love, but it was the day of the trucks strike, and we had some difficulties for the access, and that is why we decided to cancel it. We are in the team with the investors team evaluating when we are going to give them." Thank you, Katherine, for reminding us. Juan Pulgarín says, "Thank you very much." There are no more hands raised. Now some closing words. Thank you very much for being here. I hope that we can see the 3 goals from Lucho that we have missed them while we were here working very hard. Congratulations, Lucho Rigo, for being such a successful businessman. I think the managing economic group that they had by bringing so many sports people with their families was very important, and Rigo had a very beautiful career. Now we conclude this call and see you very soon. Thank you very much.