Since its inception in 2000, Energy Holding has become the top electricity supplier to the petrochemical, metallurgical and car manufacturing sectors in Romania.

Energy Holding is a key power in the Romanian energy market and focused on the championing of green energy sources

Romania has joined the European Union with a fully liberalized electricity market and is readying itself to cope with competition within the free trade bloc by restructuring its energy sector, aligning legislation to E.U. standards and selling off state assets.

Energy Holding had already been a vanguard player in Romania’s energy business before E.U. accession and has made its presence felt as a leading private electricity supplier that has since spearheaded efforts to free up the market.

Since its establishment in 2000, the company has become the top electricity supplier for industrial consumers active in petrochemical, metallurgical and car manufacturing businesses and has held onto its leading position year after year. Its acquisition portfolio consists of a mix of sources: hydro, nuclear and thermo, both local and imported. Services include electricity supply, consolidated billing, metering, electricity consumption audits, energy efficiency studies, turnkey electricity supply projects and assistance in understanding market mechanisms and regulations.

Enrique Ferrer’s Energy Holding was acquired by Société Bancaire Privée in 2006, opening the way for a significant expansion of exploratory activity to complement the company’s contribution to the Romanian energy industry. Now, with the financial backing and expertise to do so, Energy Holding is in the process of bringing hydropower to the fore, and thus becoming the first green energy operator in Romania, and one of only a few in the region.

In a move that will undoubtedly bolster the company’s development plans, Energy Holding was taken over in 2006 by Société Bancaire Privée, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The bank’s core business is the management of both private and institutional assets, investment advisory, and trading on worldwide stock markets.

The company ended 2006 with $15 million in profits on a turnover of $370 million. “We have recorded a 25 percent rise in turnover in 2006 against 2005 and profit was 19 percent higher in 2006 against the previous year,” Enrique Ferrer, President of Energy Holding, points out. “Assuming that every year we have a 25 percent increase in turnover, in five years’ time we will have a turnover of $1 billion.”

Energy Holding’s current strategy is to consolidate its leading spot on the Romanian energy market and to use the valuable experience gained in Romania to act as a platform for the extension of its operations into regional markets, buoyed by the spreading liberalization process. The company has already sealed a number of transactions with its partners in SEE (South East Europe) countries such as Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. In Bulgaria, the company is present through Energy Partners AD and has carved out a slice of the market by supplying major local industrial consumers. Energy Holdings is also looking to open its own subsidiaries in Greece, Macedonia and Montenegro.

In the meantime, the supplier has already made strong inroads in the Romanian market. Energy Holding was the first private electricity supplier in Romania to create an Electricity Management Center, under a $5 million investment program, with the aim of streamlining electricity supply and generation activities. The center, Mr. Ferrer explains, enables the company to provide useful information to its clients regarding their consumption patterns. “With the help of this center, Energy Holding can act as a domestic stock exchange, so that the eventual deviations in the customers’ consumption forecasts can be offset against one another.

“Two years ago this service was provided, but not in real time. The reports for each customer were prepared and handed over to the client only after the end of each month,” Mr. Ferrer says. Now the center ensures interaction with customers by on-line communication. Mr. Ferrer adds: “We also provide security for the supply. We have a portfolio where we buy energy from different sources and from different countries so we can provide customers with better security, which is essential to their plant operations. You cannot prevent every eventuality, but in general we are better equipped than others to handle unforeseeable problems.”

‘You cannot prevent every eventuality, but we are better equipped than others to handle unforeseeable problems’

Furthermore, in 2004 Energy Holdings bought five small hydropower plants on the Topolog River, becoming one of the first private green energy producers in Romania. The plants have an installed capacity of nearly 6MW, with an average energy generation of 8,000 MWh/year. The company has invested over €1 million ($1.35 million) in upgrading the plants’ equipment in the project’s first phase, as well as increasing power generation output and operational safety.

“Whenever the possibility arises to be involved in the privatization of a hydroelectric power plant, we will participate,” Mr. Ferrer says. He adds that his company is also pursuing other alternative energy sources and is looking into the possibility of building wind power and biomass plants in Romania. Energy Holding also promotes the use of natural gas as fuel, as well as promoting ecological coal-burning technologies.

In addition to investing in economically viable and environmentally friendly projects, Energy Holding is also heavily involved in various community projects such as sporting, artistic and cultural events, and the sponsorship of athletes, singers and dancers. It has also lent a hand to hard-pressed communities. “Immediately after the catastrophic floods in July 2005, Energy Holding was among the companies to initiate an aid campaign for the affected communities,” Mr. Ferrer states.