Electricity, gas over a pipeline, waters and telecommunications: EPM has been active in these four areas of public utilities and is currently implementing a number of projects to consolidate its leadership.
Energy
Research and use of different energy sources, the development of a complete distribution system that reaches every musicality and Antioquia, and the provision of gas over a network are aspects of a company that holds an outstanding place in the Colombian electrical sector, supplying 23.9% share of the demand in the country. EPM has built the backbone of the hydroelectric system in Colombia. After many years of experience developing hydroelectric projects, EPM has been advancing for more than a decade with research on the use of other energy sources as a way to contribute to the planet's environmental sustainability and to open new areas for its national and international growth.
Net effective capacity of EPM's generation system: 2597.6 MW, equivalent to 19.34% of the nation’s installed generation capacity.
Distribution system: 22% of the national total.
Gas over a pipeline: 9% share in the Colombian market.
Porce III and Porce IV, with a capacity of 660 MW and 400 MW respectively, are two of the hydroelectric generation projects currently under construction. The first generation unit in Porce III will start producing electrical energy at the end of 2010, and around the same time construction of the first civil works for Porce IV will begin. Operations will start in 2015. In Panama, through its affiliate Hidrológica del Teribe, the Bonyic hydroelectric power station is being built. This power station will be able to generate up to 31.3 MW and will contribute to decrease that country's dependence on imported oil and other fossil fuels that are highly contaminating of the environment. In Colombia, EPM is also part of the corporation that is working to develop the Hidroituango project, which will have the largest capacity in the country with a total of 2400 MW. All these projects that consolidate EPM's important role in the Colombian electrical landscape also indicate the path taken in their research on alternative energy sources. For example, the pioneering experience of Jepirachi which uses wind energy, and La Vuelta and La Herradura micro power stations which meet the conditions established by the Kyoto Protocol as a mechanism for clean development.
Energy transmission and distribution
Networks: 60,255 km
Transformers: 90,000
Substations: 133
EPM brings the magic of light to thousands of people in Antioquia. Its energy transmission and distribution strategic business unit transports and sells energy, reaching 1,720,000 homes in 123 municipalities around Antioquia, and in one municipality of Chocó, covering an area of approximately 64,000 km². In the rest of Colombia, it provides this utility to 340 municipalities through its affiliates CHEC and EDEQ in the Colombian coffee growing axis, and in the east of the country through two other companies in its portfolio: ESSA and CENS in the Santander Department and Norte de Santander Department, respectively. The company is currently serving 12,000,000 Colombians.
Natural Gas
Steel pipelines: 82.9 km
Polyethylene pipelines: 3811 km
Regulation stations: 16
Ringed customers: 798,891
Connected customers: 474,516
Since 1996, when the pilot stage was implemented, EPM has been providing natural gas service over a pipeline, a safe, economical and environmentally friendly energy alternative which is currently being expanded to the ten municipalities that make up the Aburrá Valley, including Medellin, and other locations around Antioquia. The service has been diversified to meet the needs of industries, SME's, retailers and transportation providers, in addition to household subscribers. For large industrial companies, EPM expanded its natural gas coverage to the municipalities of Guarne and Rionegro, in the East of Antioquia.
In addition, in various parts of Antioquia and the country EPM continues to implement the model of regional water systems, with the regional companies for Urabá, the West, Quibdó, and the East of Antioquia. In an alliance with several institutions in Antioquia, Empresas Públicas de Oriente was recently created to provide waterworks, sewer and sanitation services in several rural and suburban areas in the municipalities of Envigado, Rionegro, and El Retiro.
In order to continue cleaning up the Medellin River, which is the city's most important water body, EPM will start construction of the second waste water treatment plant in the Aburrá Valley. After ten years of operation, the San Fernando treatment plant, with the capacity to treat 1.8 m/s, the Bello plant will be built in the North, with the capacity to treat 5.0 m/s beginning in 2012. Also, to transport the waste waters to the new plant, the 8 km long 'North Interceptor' will be built, conceived as an unprecedented engineering work in Antioquia.
Telecommunications
This is UNE, an EPM Group company. Including all its affiliates, the company serves close to 70% of the urban population in Colombia.
Fixed telephony: 2.096,000 lines
Internet: 563,846 users
Television: 755,000 users
EPM Group
EPM's investment portfolio consists of seven energy companies, one of them headquartered in Panama, and the promotion of regional waterworks and basic sanitation entities. Its affiliate EPM Telecomunicaciones, heads seven companies in this sector, with operations in Colombia, the United States and Spain.
Social and Education Investments
Empresas Publicas de Medellin leads the Fondo EPM para la Educacion Superior which benefits more than 3000 students from Medellin and Antioquia. EPM also holds a public library containing a variate collection of engineering books.
