Enel Chile - Q3 2024

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Enel Chile Nine Months and Q3 2024 Results Conference Call. My name is Carmen, and I will be your host for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To participate, you will need to press Star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear a message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, simply press Star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. During this conference call, we may make statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements reflect only our current expectations, are not guarantees of future performance, and involve risks and uncertainties.

Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. These factors are described in Enel Chile's press release reporting its Nine Months and Q3 2024 results, the presentation accompanying this conference call, and Enel Chile's annual report on Form 20F included under risk factors. You may access our Nine Months and Q3 2024 results press release and presentation on our website, www.enel.cl, and our 20F on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on those forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. Enel Chile undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements or to disclose any development as a result of which these forward-looking statements become inaccurate except as required by law. I would now like to turn the presentation over to Ms. Isabela Klemes, Head of Investor Relations of Enel Chile.

Please proceed.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Buenas tardes, good afternoon, and welcome to Enel Chile 2024 Q3 and Nine Months Results Presentation. Thanks to all joining us today. My name is Isabela Klemes. I'm the Head of Investor Relations. Joining me today are our CEO, Giuseppe Turchiarelli, and our new CFO, Simone Conticelli. Simone is a nuclear physicist and holds an MBA from LUISS University. He joined the Enel Group in 2006, working in the administration, finance, and control of Enel SpA. From 2018 to 2022, he was in Chile as the CFO of Enel Generación Chile. Before becoming CFO of Enel Chile, he held the position of CFO at Slovenské elektrárne, another company within Enel Group. Our presentation and related financial information are available on our website, www.enel.cl, in the Investors section, and our app, Investors. In addition, a replay of the call will soon be available.

At the end of this presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions via phone or webcast chat through the link Ask a Question. Media participants are connected only in listening mode. In the following slides, Giuseppe will start the presentation with our key highlights of the period. He will then cover updates on our portfolio and regulatory context. Finally, Simone provides an overview of our business, economic, and financial performance. Thank you, you all, and now let me hand over the call to Giuseppe.

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

Thank you, Isabela. Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us. Let's start the presentation with our main highlights of the period on slide two. During the first nine months, our hydro portfolio performance was very robust, with hydro generation increasing by 20% compared to last year. This improvement was due to higher reservoir levels at the beginning of the year, influenced by the El Niño phenomenon observed in the previous year, and a solid rainy season this year. This resulted in an efficient generation portfolio mix for the period. We are pleased to announce that the Los Cóndores project is nearing completion. After several years of construction, the project has reached the pre-commissioning stage. We expect Los Cóndores to be connected to the grid by the end of the year.

As everyone knows, an extreme climate event severely impacted the central and southern parts of the country, including our concession area in the metropolitan region. Further, in the presentation, I will give you more details regarding the unforeseeable and irresistible climatic events that affected our distribution segment. On the regulatory side, we have some important news to share. The factoring related to the PEC III receivable was successfully executed last week. We have carried out the factoring, totaling $630 million. The PNP decree for the second semester was published on October 5th, which will result in a lower PEC accumulation for the year-end, and the draft bill for the electricity subsidies for vulnerable customers is still under discussion. Today, the Energy Commission is renewed to evaluate government proposals. I will give you more color to this topic during the presentation.

Regarding profitability, I'm glad to announce that our EBITDA and net income results were better than last year's figures, fully confirming our guidance for the year. We achieved a positive FFO, even though during the first nine months of this year, we recovered only a small portion of receivable related to the PEC. As I mentioned before, much of the recovery of the PEC III receivable was made through the factoring executed last week. So we will see them in the presentation of the full year results. And finally, for the 2024 nine-month results, we present a strong and sound level of liquidity. I will provide more details on this later. Now, let's look at some updates on the hydrological situation on slide three.

In addition to the positive hydrological conditions during 2023 that allow us to have greater water availability this year, higher-than-expected rainfall recorded during 2024 has allowed us to increase our hydro production, exceeding 20% in the same period of 2023. Therefore, during the first nine months of 2024, we have accumulated 1.6 terawatt-hours of additional hydro generation compared to last year. The hydrological situation in our reservoir is also very positive year-to-date compared to the last year's figures, particularly in the south. In fact, with the water accumulated in our reservoir to date, we have sufficient availability to supply our energy demand until the end of this year, even with the possibility of La Niña phenomenon in November and December. It is worth mentioning that the snow melting season has already started.

Unfortunately, there has been rainfall and a rapid increase in the temperature in the south, generating increases in the affluent flows of the river. In fact, we had to carry out discharges in Pehuenche power plants a few days ago, and on October 24, in the Ralco and the Pangue power plants as well. Of course, these maneuvers were coordinated and previously informed to the competent authority and the community. Based on this fact, we have updated our hydro generation estimate to approximately 13 terawatt-hours for 2024 and 3.3 terawatt-hours for theQ4, of which we have already produced 1.3 terawatt-hours. Let's move to the next slide to review how we continue improving our portfolio on generation assets. We continue consolidating our renewable capacity through a diverse portfolio of projects distributed across various country regions. This year, we increased our exposure to battery energy storage, BESS.

In recent months, we received authorization from the National Electricity Coordinator to begin conventional operation of 101 megawatts associated with the two projects, El Manzano BES, located in the metropolitan region of Santiago, and La Cabaña BES, located in the south of Chile. Considering this latest authorization from the coordinator in 2024, we initiated the commercial operation of a portfolio equivalent to 511 megawatts and 1,735 megawatts since 2023. In this nine-month period, we reached a total net installed capacity of 8.7 GW, of which 6.8 GW are renewable, representing 77% of the total. As good news, the Los Cóndores hydro power plants had significant updates in this period. We have concluded the filling of the tunnels and started the pre-commissioning test. We expect to be connected by the end of the year. Now, on the next slide, we will review the performance of our generation KPIs.

Net electricity generation totaled 18.6 terawatt-hours as of September 2024, exceeding by 6% the production during the first nine months of 2024, mainly due to higher hydro and renewable generation resulting from the improved hydrology this year and the operation of new projects. During the Q3 of 2024, net generation decreased 8% to 6.5 terawatt-hours, mainly due to better hydrology recorded during the same period of 2023 and lower thermal dispatch during the Q3 of 2024, partially offset by greater wind generation. Our energy sales totaled 25.3 terawatt-hours as of September 2024, 9% higher than the level recorded in the first nine months last year, resulting from higher sales to both regulated customers and free customers. Our commitment with our clients was fulfilled with a higher portion of our renewable generation, which also led us to lower energy budgets in the spot market.

During the Q3 of 2024, physical energy sales grew by 8% to 8.4 terawatt-hours, mainly due to higher sales to regulated customers. In terms of our balance, during the first nine months of the year, we increased our purchases from third parties by 2 terawatt-hours as part of our continued effort to diversify and optimize our energy sources. Now, I would like to take a few minutes to talk about the extraordinary weather events of last August. I would like to present this slide to discuss the extreme weather events that impacted the country and not just our concession area, which impact was higher than the earthquake occurred in 2010.

On August 1st and 2nd, the metropolitan region of Santiago was severely hit by an extraordinary and unpredictable storm with winds of up to 124 kilometers per hour, significantly exceeding the forecast and warnings issued by authorities and technical experts. This storm caused the fall of more than 2,000 trees, over 1,000 utility poles, and large branches, which destroyed part of our electricity distribution network, causing widespread power outages. The damage is comparable only to that caused by the earthquake already mentioned. Enel Distribución Chile deployed all available resources, going much farther than required by Chilean electrical legislation, and it adopted an extraordinary special measure to restore power to its customers as quickly as possible. Reaching this amount of crews was only possible as part of Enel Group.

We have requested support and received more than 100 technical experts in this type of event, coming from different parts of Latin America and Europe. Furthermore, it is worth noting that for this weather event, we spared no expense to recover and normalize the power supply as soon as possible. This is reflected in the number of field crews, 383 crew at the peak of the event versus 108 considered in the reference model company of the current tariff. Reestablishing the system was extremely difficult, and we have already submitted to the local regulator and to the SEC the irresistibility and unpredictability of this event. Therefore, we clearly faced a Force Majeure climatic event, the severity of which exceeded all the foreseeable measures to be adopted under the Chilean electric legislation, and it will appear clear to all the different stakeholders in Chile once the pertinent data will be disseminated.

As Enel, we have been working on proposing different kinds of regulatory models to make the regulatory and physical system more resilient to future weather events. We clearly understand that it's urgent to modernize and digitalize the Chilean electrical distribution system. Now, I would like to talk about some regulatory framework milestones in the next slide. As you may recall, during last call, we indicated that in January this year, the Ministry of Energy presented a bill related to the energy stabilization mechanism, with the purpose of continuing the PEC mechanism and mitigating the price increase for final customers. At the same time, they also aim to improve the client protection mechanism known as the MPC mechanism to allow gradual repayment and accumulated debt to the generator and establish a transitory subsidy for the most vulnerable clients.

This new law was discussed and approved by the Chilean Congress in April and came into force at the end of April. Following this, the first half and the second half PNP decrees were published, and the regulated tariff was updated. After the publication of the second half decree, all clients, including those with a consumption of less than 350 kilowatt-hours, which are basically our zones, are paying the regulated PPA real price. The consequence of this is that no further debt will be accumulated during the tariff stabilization, an outcome that has not been achieved since 2019. This shift marks a critical step towards financial stability, reflecting a significant change in managing tariff-related obligations. After the issuance of the sovereign guarantee decree, as well as a complementary set of rules and regulations to the new law, the factoring was executed.

We were able to factor $630 million last October 2024. As of September 2024, we had an account receivable related to the PEC, already net of factoring and including readjustments and interest of around $1.1 billion approximately. So, taking into the new factoring realized in October, we are expecting to the end of the year with accruals in the range of $500-550 million. Let me go to the right side of the slide where we will recall the main topic related to the proposed law the government is introducing to increase the subsidies, which currently cover 1.2 million families to reach approximately 4.9 million families, representing the 40% of most vulnerable families in Chile. Now, Congress is discussing with the executive authorities a potential increase in this benefit to increase the number of the families supported by these subsidies.

Currently, the Energy and Mining Committee of the Senate is deliberating on the matter, which includes in general terms doubling the green tax emission from the current $5 per ton of CO2 emitted. For reference, last year we paid around $15 million related to it, allocating the additional VAT revenue that the transmission is collecting due to the increase in the tariff, doubling the fines imposed by the regulator and allocating them to support the subsidy fund, applying new charges to the small and medium distributed energy units known as PMGDs. As Enel, we support the government's effort to find alternatives to assist the most vulnerable families in the country, especially in light of potential economic challenges. However, we have observed that over the years, government solutions have often disrupted the market.

The same companies that have been impacted by various regulatory measures since 2019 are once again being called upon to support these subsidy mechanisms. To maintain Chile's reputation as a quality marketplace, it is crucial that such measures are reconsidered. Otherwise, we risk severely impacting long-term investment, competitiveness, and the health of the energy sector. Among the proposed measures, we believe that allocating the additional VAT revenue is the most viable and sustainable option. To conclude, regarding distribution and VAT 2024-2028, there have been no significant developments since our last call. Our perspective on the next steps in the process is detailed in the annex of our presentation. Now, I will hand over to our CFO, Simone Conticelli.

Simone Conticelli (CFO)

Many thanks, Giuseppe, and good afternoon, everybody. First of all, I would like to tell you that it's a pleasure for me to join Enel Chile.

And now, let's move to economic and financial performance. During this nine-month period and the Q3 of 2024, our results continue to demonstrate a solid economic and financial performance. Let me begin with a quick summary of the main figures, which I will detail in the following slides. Both nine-month 2024 and Q3 2024 EBITDA and net income recorded important improvements when compared to the last year's indicators. This is mainly explained by a more efficient generation mix, thanks to better hydrological situation, coupled with an increase in our energy sales and better pricing. Regarding the FFO, the nine-month 2024 figures show a slight reduction versus last year, particularly in the Q3, mainly explained by a temporary negative effect from PEC factoring operations and higher tax payments in 2024, primarily related to Arcadia transactions in October 2023.

This trend is expected to be reversed during the last quarter of this year. Now, on the next slide, let's review the progress on CAPEX. Our total CAPEX reached $406 million during the first nine months, 15% lower than last year, considering the conclusion of several renewable and storage projects over the year 2023 and beginning of 2024. 62% of the total CAPEX, amounting to $263 million, was related mainly to renewable and storage CAPEX deployment, and 22%, equivalent to $92 million, was related to grids. Asset management CAPEX reached $133 million, which represents 33% of our total CAPEX. It increased by around 50% compared to the last year's figures. The reason for this increase can be found both in the generation and distribution business.

In the generation business, this increase of $29 million is mostly related to maintenance activities in the Atacama CCGT power plant and in solar and wind assets. In the distribution business, the increase of approximately $16 million is due to climate events, emergencies, and maintenances related to faults in the low and medium voltage lines. Talking about developing CAPEX, they reached $227 million, a decrease of 32% compared to the last year's figures, mainly due to the conclusion of renewable and BES projects. Now, let's move to the next slide, where we have a summary of the Q2 EBITDA breakdown. In Q3 2024, our EBITDA was $405 million, which is $63 million higher than the same period in 2023. Referring to generation business, we have an increase of $68 million, thanks to a significant contribution from PPA sales.

This is mainly due to higher volume, especially in the regulated markets, as mentioned by Giuseppe, and pricing effects, mainly related to contract indexation. Going to gas trading, we had an $11 million margin increase coming from additional trading activities in Q3 2024, particularly the sale of LNG cargo to Europe. Referring to grids, the margin is higher by $5 million, mainly due to the increase of remuneration linked to the publication of the EIP 2020-2024 regulatory report. This margin was totally offset by the extreme weather events, including the force majeure events of August 1st and 2nd, that affected our distribution segment. This generated $60 million of additional OPEX and other expenses, mainly related to an increase in crew dispatch, call center facilities, and generators' rent and operation. Let's move now on the next slide to review the main impact on EBITDA during the nine-month period.

Our EBITDA reached $1 billion and an increase of $300 million, representing a 46% improvement compared to the last year. I will start explaining the positive effects. First, we have a grid contribution of $250 million in EPA sales, mainly related to higher volumes, particularly in the regulated markets, and EPA pricing in the free market, mainly due to the indexation, in line with the effects explained previously in the quarter. Second, industrial sourcing had a positive impact of $123 million. This is mainly explained by lower variable production costs due to lower thermal generation because of the remarkable hydrology of the year. Third, a positive contribution of $70 million related to commercial sourcing, mainly explained by lower prices associated with purchases in the spot market. This effect was partially offset by higher purchases from third parties and the impact of EPA renegotiation that benefited us in 2023.

Then, we have another positive effect of $23 million from grid margin. This is mainly due to the grid remuneration linked to the publication on VAD 2020-2024 regulatory report. As we have seen in the quarterly analysis, this positive effect was offset by the impact of the extreme weather events. The aforementioned positive effects were partially offset by a negative impact of $115 million associated with notable gas trading activities carried out during the first nine months of 2023, amounting to approximately 29 TWh, and a negative net effect of $15 million, mainly due to higher OPEX associated with new renewable projects, recognition of Transantiago e-business in equity basis in 2023 for Enel X, and negative impact of inflation across all the businesses. Let's move on to the next slide, where we will review the net income evolution.

Our nine-month 2024 net income amounted to $446 million, 52% higher than last year's figures, mainly explained by the EBITDA improvement. Let me walk you through the additional effect for this nine-month period. Referring to the depreciation and amortization effect, we have a higher cost for $47 million, mainly resulting from higher depreciation in energy and power due to the new renewable capacity coming into operation and Chilean peso devaluation in the period. Higher bad debt accrual in grids due to the rise in credit losses associated with the higher tariffs. Regarding financial results and equity investments, we recorded a $63 million negative variation versus last year, mainly explained by positive exchange rate differences in 2023, higher financial expenses, mainly due to FX variation, and lower financial income linked to lower average interest rates, partially offset by higher interest related to the tax receivables.

Talking about income taxes, we recorded an increase of $42 million, mainly due to the better results in the period. This was partially offset by a lower cost related to the diversification of Arcadia assets and wholesale in 2023. Focusing on the quarter, our net income increased by 3%. This is mainly explained by rising EBITDA contribution, lower tax expenses of $15 million, mainly due to lower costs for diversification of Arcadia assets and wholesale in 2023, and lower costs due to monetary correction. These positive effects were partially offset by, first, an increase in D&A and VAT debt of $12 million due to higher depreciation, mainly linked to the operation of new renewable capacity in EGP, and an increase in VAT debt, mainly due to a rise in credit losses associated to the higher tariffs.

Second, higher financial expenses of $60 million, mainly due to positive exchange rate differences in 2023, and lower interest recognition related to PEC 2.0 in Q3 2024 versus Q3 2023, and now, let's move to the FFAO analysis on the next slide. Let's review the composition of our FFAO for the period and the main effect versus 2023. First, let me highlight that the 2023 FFAO figures have been adjusted by $310 million due to tax paid on capital gains for the sale of energy transmission in 2022. Our FFAO in this nine-month period of 2024 reached $366 million, nearly in line with the same period of 2023. Excluding the 2024 tax payment for the sale of Arcadia assets last year, our FFAO would have shown an improvement versus last year's figures.

EBITDA in this nine-month period amounted to more than $1 billion, showing a variation of $318 million compared to the last year's figures. This increase is mainly due to higher EPA sales and positive performance in commercial and industrial sourcing, as I previously explained. We have also already talked about the cumulative impact of the stabilization mechanism, which amounted to $313 million. This negative effect was partially offset by the execution of the IDB factoring related to PEC 2 and PEC 3, which amounted to $83 million in the nine-month period. When we compare the total effect of PEC net of factoring for the nine months of 2024 versus 2023, we see a decrease of $270 million this year. However, this is only a temporary effect, as we have already received an additional $630 million in offset effect.

Working capital in the nine-month period showed a negative balance of $74 million, mostly due to CAPEX payments related to 2023 renewables. Compared to the last year's figure, working capital impact on FFAO was positive for $84 million, mainly due to the higher accumulation of VAT tax credit in 2023. Income taxes negatively impacted our FFAO by $169 million this period, primarily due to tax payments in the generation business in 2024 and taxes paid on the sale of Arcadia assets. Comparing income taxes paid in the first nine months of 2024 to 2023, we see a negative effect of $163 million. This difference is mainly due to the tax payment of Arcadia operation in 2024, higher tax payment in generation business, and lower recovery from previous periods. To conclude, financial expenses had a negative impact of $166 million on the nine-month 2024 FFAO, mainly due to the debt-related expenses.

Once compared to last year, our financial expenses decreased by $12 million in the first nine months of 2024 compared to 2023. This decrease is mainly due to the financial expenses related to PEC 1 in 2024. Now, let's take a look at our liquidity and leverage position. Our gross debt increased by 8% to $4.8 billion by the end of September 2024 compared to December 2023. This higher debt was mainly due to PEC accumulation effect and seasonality of generation business. This increase in gross debt should reverse during the last quarter of 2024, considering the factoring under the PEC 3 mechanism, which took place on the last October the 24th, allowing us to pay an important amount in short-term credit lines, taking advantage of our debt flexibility.

The average terms of our debt maturity slightly decreased to 5.7 years by the end of September 2024 versus the 6.1 years seen in December 2023, and the portion at the fixed rate was 75% of total debt. The average cost of our debt reached 5.0% as of September 2024, slightly above the 4.9% recorded in December 2023, mainly due to the energy generation Yankee bond maturity in April 2024 for $400 million at 4.25%. All in all, we can see a significant improvement in our leverage ratios. In this September, our net debt/EBITDA ratio was 2.9, demonstrating solid decrease versus last quarter figures. Regarding liquidity, we are in a comfortable position to support our capital needs for the upcoming months and cope with the next year's maturities. Thank you all for your attention, and now I pass the floor to Giuseppe for the closing remarks.

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

Thank you, Simone.

To conclude this presentation, I would like to give you the following closing remarks. Better hydrology and incorporating new technology, such as optimization in hydro facility and the development of battery in our portfolio, have helped us to improve our margin. Also, our trading capabilities were also important in adjusting our sales portfolio, contributing to important margin in the period. As a result, we have delivered a more than solid operating and financial performance during the year. We received around $713 million through various factoring activities related to the PEC, a larger part of which came from the last week's operation, which reached $630 million. The proceeds will primarily repay short-term debt, strengthening our balance sheet. As I mentioned, taking this new factoring realized in October, we expect to end the year with accrual in a range of $500-550 million.

Finally, to conclude, we want to invite you to the event of November 21st, where we'll present the new strategic plan for 2025-2027 to the financial community. More information will be provided in the coming year. Let me now hand over to Isabela.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Giuseppe. Let's now begin with our Q&A session. We will receive questions via phone and chat in the webcast. The Q&A session is open. Carmen, please, you may start.

Operator (participant)

Thank you so much. And as a reminder, that is Star 11. If you do have a question via telephone, one moment for the first question. And it comes from the line of Javier Suárez with Mediobanca. Please proceed.

Javier Suárez (Vice Head of European Equity and Credit Research)

Hi. Many thanks for the presentation and for taking my questions as well. I have three questions. The first one is on the guidance.

If you can elaborate on the latest guidance that you provided to the market in terms of EBITDA, net income, and also net debt, we should consider these guidance confirm and the implications of the fact that the company is increasing their hydro guidance to 13 terawatt-hour this year when previous guidance were 12 terawatt-hour. So any light on existing guidance could be appreciated. Second question is on the recovery of regulatory receivables under the stabilization mechanism. So the question is, can you update us on your latest expectation for the timing for the recovery of the pending amount? I think that on the previous conference call, you mentioned something like $200 million in 2025 and the remaining portion in 2026 and 2027. Is that guidance still a good one? And the final question is on your latest expectations on the publication of the new distribution tariff.

I think that you mentioned during the conference call that there is no significant update. So if you can give us a later thought on when the final report should be unveiled? Thank you.

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

Okay. Thank you, Javier, for your questions. I will hand over to Giuseppe. Yes. Okay. Let me say that for what concerns the guidance, as you probably remember, last year, we presented a range of EBITDA between 1.3-1.5, and we confirmed it. Of course, we're going to be on the upper side of the range, but we are confirming our guidance. Same confirmation for what concerns the net debt/EBITDA ratio. We're going to be below three times, that is basically our target. We feel comfortable with this ratio. For what concerns hydro, as you see in the presentation, we are expecting to close the year with 13, approximately 13 terawatt-hour of hydro production.

Let me say that already in October, we had 1.2, 1.3. So we are in line. Everything is in line with our focus that we presented in the call. So this should be the production that we're going to have at the end of the year. For what concerns PEC receivable, Simone? Well, okay. Maybe just to finalize my part. For what concerns the 2024-2028 distribution tariff process, we don't have any kind of update. We expect to have some news at the beginning of the next year when the CNE, the regulatory body, will issue the feedback for the technical consult record. So we are waiting for this report. Okay.

Simone Conticelli (CFO)

Thanks for the question. Let's talk a little bit about PEC. As you know, at the beginning of the year, the debt was quite high, $750 million. And then this debt increased during the first three quarters.

Of course, each quarter, we accumulate something like $100 million of new PEC. And in the first three quarters, we received as factoring process just more or less $80 million. And so at the end of September, the situation is that we have a debt of about $1 billion and $100 million. The important message that already Giuseppe gave you is that in any case, the increase in tariff changed the situation. Starting from a few weeks ago with the PNP, the second half, we are not accumulating more or less any other PEC receivable. And so from now on, the PEC amount should decrease each month. Now, as we have already commented, we received a cash in of $630 million the 24th of October. And given this cash in, at the end of the year, our position should be in a range among $500 and $550 million.

This amount should be cashed in mainly in the next two years. The larger amount, more or less $200 million in the first year, 2025, and the most of the remaining in 2026. We expect just a small part to be cashed in in 2027. And particularly, we are talking about the PEC 1 mechanism. As you know, this mechanism considers that a part of the total debt will be cashed in to the tariff. And so we have to wait for the end of the period, that is 2027.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Simone. Operator, do you have more questions online?

Operator (participant)

We do not have any other questions. Back to you for webcast.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you. So Giuseppe and Simone, I will start with some questions that we have received from the analysts and investors connected. So the first one is coming from Francisco Paz from Santander.

Francisco is saying, "Thanks for the presentation. The question is the following. We have observed a positive water availability during this year and the previous one, which has helped the company to reduce cost pressures and increase hydro generation. Going forward and in the context of uncertainty for water availability in the long term, what do you assume is the reasonable estimate of hydro generation in the medium to long term for the company in annual terms?

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

Let me say that we are really happy to have this two-year with a very good hydrological condition. We do not consider this two-year as a proxy for the following year. So we used to project in terms of hydro condition the last 10-11-year average. So in general, we are soon to have around 10-11 terawatt-hour per year. This is our estimation.

As soon as we're going to see a different kind of path in terms of hydrology, we are going to change our estimation. But as of today, we keep our estimation around 10-11 terawatt-hours per year.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you, Giuseppe. We have some questions now from Andrew McCarthy from LarrainVial. The first question is also related to the hydro generation, but I think we have covered now the question. The second one is relating to the PEC, the PEC 3. So when do you expect to sell more PEC 3 receivables and how much do you expect to receive?

Simone Conticelli (CFO)

I think that we have answered also to this question, but I will focus on this specific question. Thank you. We are keeping on selling the PEC debt going with the new decree that we will need.

We are expecting to have cash for around $200 million or something more by the end of 2025. This is the first block of effect that we are going to cash in.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you, Simone. So we have another question from Andrés that also the investors analyst has sent to us. So do you see more gas commercialization opportunities for the Q1?

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

Well, at this moment, we don't expect any additional sales of cargo for the rest of the year. Clearly, we are always looking at any opportunity to increase our profitability. But as of today, we don't have any in front of us, any sales of cargo in front of us.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you.

So the last question from Andrés is, do we expect the distribution business to return to normalized operating profit in theQ4 of this year, or should there be more negative impacts from fines or compensation to clients for services interruption that occurred in 2024?

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

For what concerns the distribution business, of course, we are still evaluating all the activities that we need in order to put our grid to the original status. We are waiting also and discussing for what concerns the possible fines or compensation, and we're going to give you more detail during our Investor Day.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you. We have some questions from Ignacio Sebele from Itaú. So the question is also very similar to the ones that we have already answered, but just to focus on the PEC 2. So how much we expect the receivable accumulation regarding the PEC 3 going forward?

Simone, just to rephrase as we have several questions on this.

Simone Conticelli (CFO)

Yes. As we have commented in this moment, the two segments of customers with consumption below 350 and with consumption higher of 350 are started to pay basic the fair price to cover the cost of the system. And then also a component that is needed to recover the used debt. So from now on, we expect no significant increase or accumulation of debt.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you. So a question from now coming from Martin Arancet from Balanz. Also on PEC, but he is asking more details about the usage of the funds from the PEC 3 that we received in October.

Simone Conticelli (CFO)

Okay. Thank you for the question. As we have commented, the 24th of October, we received a payment of more or less $630 million. This cash in was received by Enel Finance Chile.

Enel Finance Chile used the money to reduce the debt position in the short term. Part of the money was invested also in the short term at the market interest rate. Clearly, we keep on looking ahead to have further opportunity to optimize also the long-term debt. On the other side, you know that financial stability is one of our core goals for our strategy. Why? Because we can leverage on debt to grab eventual opportunity that can pop up in the market. This increase of our financial stability is a very positive aspect that can enable us to do more things in the future.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you, Simone. We have one more from Martin.

He's asking, "If I'm not mistaken, the government is preparing a technical report to evaluate if Enel Distribución has taken the proper steps to return service to clients after the extreme weather event conditions. Could you give us any color on the timeline of this report, your expectations, and also your options if it has a negative outcome?"

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

Okay, so let me first mention the fact that the process of revoking the concession has not yet started. The Minister of Energy tasked the SEC with preparing a technical report on Enel Distribución concession. According to the authority, this study should take between six and 18 months, and once it's going to be ready, it will be delivered to the President of the Republic for review, and only the President of the Republic of Chile, through a decree, can start the process.

So we are waiting for the report that should be issued by the SEC in order to understand whether this technical body sees any possibility or any suggestion in order to revoke or to suggest the revoking of the concession. Just to be clear, the current law excludes any possible revocation of the concession in case of force majeure. This is the reason because we believe that any report from the SEC should give this kind of suggestion. Because is it clear from the situation that has been occurred in August that the force majeure is clearly part of the event, let me say? And what we're going to do in case of negative outcome? Well, clearly, we're going to start with all the legal action locally and internationally. So we're going to start really defending our interest in terms of concession.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you, Giuseppe.

We received other questions also from Rodrigo Mora, but they're the same on distribution and also on gas commercialization. Tomás González from Scotiabank, some questions we have already answered, but I go to the dividends. He's asking regarding the dividends, "Do you plan to pay an interim dividend before the year-end? Any possibility to increase the payout in the future?" He's mentioned because of the funds of the PEC.

Simone Conticelli (CFO)

Okay. Talking about Enel Generación, the dividend policy of Enel Generación is to increase to the year the dividend. In this moment, this cash in is in line with the possibility to stay in the policy and in the very short term. We reach in the future until the 70% of the dividend. This money is very good news because we'll permit to stay with our dividend policy.

But in my opinion, and this is a matter for the board of directors and for the assembly of the owners of the company, but in my opinion, there will be no big changes regarding the dividend policy.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you. So let me check here. We have other questions. Okay. So we have one from Martin Pozzo. So he's asking us, "Can you give more detail about the impact the company might have with the increase of the green taxes in case the new project law is approved?" Can you give you more details, Giuseppe, Simone?

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

Yeah. Well, let me remind you that last year, we paid $15 million in green taxes. And we have a very, very good mix in terms of plant fleet. Our CCGT is supplied with a very competitive gas contract.

The green tax, at the end of the day, represents a very low percentage of our thermal power plants. We have several options in order to compensate these taxes. But at the end of the day, as I said before, the law is under discussion. It's at the beginning of the discussion, actually. And the amount of the taxes are almost, yeah, very, very low.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you, Giuseppe. So one more from Rodrigo Mora from Patria Moneda. He's asking about Los Cóndores project. Okay. So he's asking if we could give more color about the status of testing of Los Cóndores and the energy generated expected to this plant. So Giuseppe, if you can give more on how we are in Los Cóndores. And then Simone, the generation of Los Cóndores.

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

Okay.

Los Cóndores project is in a very good shape right now because we already started the pre-commissioning test. We are going ahead, and we are pretty sure to have the first synchronization in the following month. For sure, before the end of the year, we expect we could have a very good surprise in the following weeks. But let me say, just to be conservative, by the end of the year.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you. Simone, on the generation, please.

Simone Conticelli (CFO)

And talking about the generation of this new plant, we can give a range of production expected for the next year. And it should be among 150 and 200 GWh for one year.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you. So we have one from Andrés Barberis from MBI. So the question is on Andrés. Thank you for the presentation. I have a question regarding the regulated sales.

We observed a year-over-year increase of 550 GWh. Is this increase driven by higher demand in your current PPAs, or is it due to the start of a new regulated contract?

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

Well, basically, the increase in sales are connected to a new contract that started recently, this year, actually. And it was a regulated tender that we won in 2017. So it's a matter of perimeter. So we have a new PPA entering our portfolio.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you, Giuseppe. So Carmen Yllorito, do we have any more questions online?

Operator (participant)

Yes, we do. We have a follow-up. One moment, please. Okay. Thank you. From the line of Javier Suárez with Mediobanca. Please proceed.

Javier Suárez (Vice Head of European Equity and Credit Research)

Thank you. And sorry for coming back again. It's on the guidance.

You mentioned that the guidance for the EBITDA in 2024 is now seen at the upper end of the range, the previous range, $1.3-1.5 billion. If you can confirm that, if you can share with us also the guidance for the net income. Thank you.

Giuseppe Turchiarelli (CEO)

Okay. I confirm you on that it's going to be at upper range, so around or closer to 1.5 rather than 1.3. So upper range. And for what concerns the net income, similar situation. I mean, we are going to confirm the guidance at the upper range that we presented last year.

Isabella Clemes (Head of Investor Relations)

Okay. Thank you. If there are no more questions, I would like to conclude our conference call. The investor relations team is available to answer any questions you may have. Many thanks for your attention. Have a great rest of the week and see you soon at our investor day.

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. And with that, we conclude today's conference. You may now disconnect.