The Ministry of Productive Development, through the Secretariat of Energy, held a talk for industrialists on energy management in the new tariff context. It was held in the Walsh Room of the Government Headquarters in Rosario, with the presence of the Secretary of Energy, Verónica Gesse, and the chemical engineer specialised in energy efficiency, Andrea Anfranchi, who gave a lecture on the subject.
The initiative is part of a series of outreach and training activities by the provincial government for Santa Fe companies to improve their competitiveness and promote energy savings.
On the occasion, Verónica Geese, assured that "from the government of the Province of Santa Fe, in the Ministry of Productive Development, where the Secretariat of Energy is located, we have the clear indication of the Minister Gustavo Puccini to have a very close relationship with the entire productive sector, with the industries, but also with the commercial sector". He added: "We have started an energy efficiency programme called Energía Mas Eficiente (More Efficient Energy), which began with talks throughout the provincial territory, especially in industrial parks and areas. We have already visited many of them with these types of tips and issues that need to be worked on.
"Among the next steps is to activate a website from which energy diagnoses can be made for the different types of users in the productive system, and there will also be space for the energy managers programme, which serves to train professionals in the province so that they can respond to a need that was somewhat hidden because we had highly subsidised tariffs. Today, this need is more evident than ever," the energy secretary continued.
Regarding the needs expressed by industrialists, Geese indicated that progress is being made "above all in very technical matters. Our talks are with the middle management of the companies, of the industries, who are the ones in charge of dealing with this moment. They are under pressure precisely because in the face of such rapid or unforeseen increases as we have had, companies find it difficult to prepare for them".
"In most companies there are people who take the minimum effort to read the bill, to know how to contract energy, which is very important. But the rest of the productive sector, especially the smaller ones, the smallest SMEs, lack access to information," she added.
"How to contract energy is a very important issue because it makes a difference of a lot of money on the bill. So those who buy energy and power separately, those who are large users of the EPE, must put special emphasis on that, not only in electricity, but also in gas, which had large increases and that for most of Santa Fe's productive sector is the energy input that most impacts on their costs," Geese said.
Therefore, she added, the province decided to carry out these trainings aimed at "those who are involved in energy issues in a company and who can implement improvements through these talks. And for those who do not have personnel in this function, we are going to generate this scheme of managers that we mentioned, to have diagnoses, to be able to decide not only on investments, but also to promote changes in the organisational culture, which will result in lower consumption and that lower consumption will remain, so obviously these trained companies or those who we help to manage the energy they use, will be more competitive".
