The energy sector underwent a profound revolution in 2022 that required a twofold acceleration: diversifying and ensuring security of supply at predictable prices, as well as continuing on the path taken in achieving an increasingly sustainable energy mix.
To reduce the dependence on raw materials, we are promoting greater diversification of the supply chain of key technologies for the transition, including investments to locate photovoltaic panel production in Europe, particularly with the 3SUN Gigafactory in Sicily, whose generation capacity will grow 15 times over current output, reaching 3,000 MW per year in 2024.
Electrification is the common strategic horizon toward the progressive decarbonization of the economy, which cannot disregard the efficiency and digitalization of infrastructure and, in particular, distribution networks. As a global player distributing to both rural areas and some of the largest megacities on the planet, we are committed to developing a unique integrated operating model to manage the transformation of the traditional distribution business model and the evolution of electricity grids into resilient, participatory and sustainable platforms.
Electrification is also the lever through which customers can participate first-hand in the change taking place, choosing and tapping into the benefits of sustainable solutions that are affordable, innovative, flexible and digital. The change starts precisely with individuals and households who, with the choices they make, can help accelerate the energy transition, not only by purchasing energy generated from renewable sources rather than fossil fuels, but also by becoming “prosumers”, that is, generators of energy as well as consumers, through, for example, the new Renewable Energy Communities (RECs). Electrification of final energy consumption is confirmed as the optimal solution to decarbonize the economy, make transportation more efficient, reduce environmental impacts and digitalize our homes and cities. It must therefore be understood as an essential tool to achieve the energy transition and shape a sustainable development model. We continue to lead the development of innovative technologies that make the use of clean electricity increasingly affordable and widespread in homes, businesses and government entities, while accelerating the digitalization of services for greater efficiency in the use of energy itself.
In addition, 2022 saw the birth of the Enel X Way Business Line, fully dedicated to electric mobility and in particular the expansion of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, with the goal of meeting the rapidly growing market, the development of advanced charging technologies and flexible solutions aimed at improving customer experience and supporting the electrification of transportation for consumers, businesses and cities.
Sardinia has all the characteristics to become a green model for the energy transition of the near future. An ambitious goal to which our Group intends to contribute, powering the entire Mediterranean island with the abundant renewable resources available there. Sardinia has geographical, economic and demographic characteristics that differentiate it from other Italian regions: its insularity has limited the development of energy infrastructure, to the extent that it has been excluded from methanization. On the other hand, natural resources such as wind, water and solar energy are present in abundance due to the advantageous location, making it possible to create plants capable of producing large amounts of energy. In line with the Enel Group’s nationwide commitment, the sustainability goal can only be to reduce to zero the use of both coal and natural gas, starting with the promotion of alternative, green solutions. When completed, the electrification process will at the same time promote sustainable tourism through the spread of environmentally friendly vehicles by land and sea as fossil-fueled means of transportation gradually disappear. In this regard, Enel X Way has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Region of Sardinia that entails the installation of 1,200 charging points in the island’s urban centers to support the energy transition.
Based on estimates of Sardinia’s energy needs, it is predicted that by 2040 it will be possible to reduce the use of coal and natural gas to zero, using only renewable sources. Most of the installations will be photovoltaic and wind plants: together with the existing hydroelectric power plants and storage systems, therefore, the aim is to have an energy mix that can guarantee continuity in the availability of electricity. With the acceleration of enabling regulatory factors and authorization time lines, within a few years this scenario will bring concrete benefits for people’s health and especially the environment, making Sardinia an energy benchmark model for green development, potentially replicable elsewhere. The public will also be the main players in this transaction through a model of distributed generation on the ground and also active through participation in energy communities.
Thanks to the creation of partnerships and agreements, in which the Enel Group will play an active role, the state-ofthe-art facilities and innovative infrastructure will also allow for significant development of the island from an economic point of view, with the creation of new jobs and the arrival of investments.
The grid is not an infrastructure for its own sake, but enables the interconnection of the different players in the energy market. Supply electricity is reliable only if it is guaranteed by a grid that, through innovation and digitization, is capable of ensuring the completion of the energy transition through the electrification of uses. Aware of its strategic role, we now have one of the most innovative and digitalized electricity infrastructures in the world. We also launched an action plan called Grid Futurability®, a comprehensive, customer-oriented industrial approach aimed at renewing, strengthening and expanding the Enel Group’s grids in the coming years. Our aim is to provide a more resilient, participative and sustainable grid, one which can anticipate, through an investment roadmap, the needs of stakeholders and harness innovative technological developments to meet them.
The grid is key to achieving decarbonization targets. In 2022, we presented the Net-Zero strategy for grid activity to counter direct emissions inherent in the infrastructure, acting on digitization, remote operations, the use of electric vehicles for work, measures to protect biodiversity and reducing technical grid losses. In addition, we are engaging suppliers, equipment manufacturers and construction companies in our supply chain to reduce indirect emissions and implement more sustainable processes and network components, such as SF6-free switchgear, vegetable oils for transformers and environmentally friendly or standard cables for sustainable construction sites.
Over the past year, we have entirely rethought the value chain by applying the concept of Sustainable by Design, redesigning the production and end-of-life management processes of grid assets with the aim of decreasing raw material consumption, maximizing economic value and reducing environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
A Sustainable Reference Model tool has been developed which, integrated into our digitalized systems, makes it possible to monitor the number and type of solutions implemented at all active or opening sites and to measure their impacts, along four lines: decarbonization, social, environmental and circularity. The score associated with each solution makes it possible both to identify the most virtuous sites (ex post evaluation) and to carry out simulations (ex ante evaluation) to facilitate the choice of solutions to be implemented.
In order to make the value chain circular, we also defined Grid Mining & Zero Waste strategies, to review the endof-life management processes of grid assets in a more sustainable way and identify New Life Cycle practices (recycling and reuse of materials at the end of their life). In this regard, in order to ensure complete tracking of the materials contained in grid assets, we have developed the “Digital Product Passport” in our systems, which enables us to monitor any materials considered critical, for which it might be useful to evaluate an alternative, but also to define ex ante the end-of-life reuse scenarios. Having an integrated and digitalized tracking system along the entire value chain is the driving force toward the ambition to open our “mine” (grid mining) to the outside world as well, making it available to other companies or different sectors in order to involve their respective production chains and feed new markets for raw and secondary materials, promoting the development of the area and the saving of virgin materials, and creating new job opportunities related to waste material recovery initiatives while minimizing environmental impacts. More details can be found in the chapter “Circular economy” in this document.
Achieving such ambitious goals necessarily requires joint multi-stakeholder action, involving suppliers, partners, competitors, industry grids, etc. In the spirit of Open Power, we have:
In addition, tests were conducted on a new design of distribution infrastructure supports using alternative mate rials to traditional cement with a high clinker content with a high impact in terms of avoided emissions of up to 80%. Meanwhile, by way of application of the grid mining strategy, experiments continue on the reuse of composite material from wind turbines for the production of certain grid components and on the identification of solutions for the reuse of wood waste from logging near overhead lines.
In 2021 Gridspertise was established, a new industrial and commercial entity that offers innovative, flexible, sustainable and integrated solutions to electricity and distribution operators (DSOs), presenting itself to the market as a reliable partner to boost the digital transformation of power grids across the industry ecosystem as part of the energy transition. The priority areas for action are:
In October 2022, an agreement was signed for the sale of 50% of Gridspertise Srl to the international private equity fund CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII (CVC).
By 2022, we will have connected to our grids a record nearly 5.6 GW(1) of distributed renewable generation capacity equivalent to more than 400 thousand producers and prosumers worldwide, including more than 300 thousand in Europe and the rest in Latin America.(2)
This gives us a global cumulative capacity of 65.7 GW,(3) equivalent to approximately 1.4 million producers and prosumers. These results were achieved thanks to the increasing capacity to accommodate distributed renewable generation (hosting capacity) and the high level of digitalization of the distribution networks operated by Enel.
For further details, see section “Renewable energies“ in this chapter.
(1) Including about 300 MW corresponding to Enel Goiás in Brazil, sold at the end of December 2022.
(2) Including about 35,000 producers and prosumers added by Enel Goiás in Brazil, sold at the end of December 2022.
(3) Including about 700 MW corresponding to Enel Goiás in Brazil, sold at the end of December 2022.
| Customers | Electricity market | Gas market | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | no. | 60,225,898 | 6,558,997 |
| Italy | no. | 21,382,665 | 4,581,245 |
| Iberia | no. | 10,545,281 | 1,798,737 |
| Rest of Europe and North America | no. | 2,905,352 | 178,993 |
| Latin America | no. | 25,392,600 | 22 |
The final number of energy and gas customers was close to 67 million in 2022, down slightly from 2021, while energy sales amounted to 321.1 TWh in 2022 (309.4 TWh in 2021).
The leadership of a company like Enel necessarily passes through customer care and attention to quality service, aspects that refer not only to the supply of electricity and/ or natural gas, but also and above all to the intangible aspects of the service perceived by the customer.
We aim to maximize value for customers on a daily basis:
Deeply understanding our customers and treating everyone with respect and kindness, taking their needs to heart and solving them with concrete solutions. We have consolidated activities focused on measuring and monitoring customer satisfaction and happiness, as well as analyzing feedback to integrate the customer’s point of view into the overall management of business processes.
Adopt an understandable language and always keep promises, respecting your customers’ time and always working efficiently.
In order to simplify the experience of our customers, in 2022 we developed a specific platform to standardize and optimize internal processes, aware that in order to be able to offer efficient solutions to our customers, we must first simplify ourselves, also by using comprehensible language, free of technicalities. To this end, we launched the Plain Language project, aimed at simplifying the communication language used through the different channels of customer interaction. In Spain, the new global app was launched to offer a higher level of customer experience. These actions have improved the efficiency of operations with a major impact on reducing complaints and optimizing operating costs.
Accelerating electrification, anticipating customers’ needs and offering sustainable solutions for families and businesses, accompanying them with honesty and determination to earn their trust.
Data-driven decision-making, an agile approach to design, customer centricity based on inclusiveness and accessibility, digitalization and simplification are the levers to generate value for customers and the Company.
Over the past few years, new payment methods have been introduced, digital channels have been strengthened, and customers have been provided with tools to control their consumption and improve energy efficiency, with a view to encouraging their participation in the Net-Zero transition.
Enel also focuses on the future, through open and sustainable innovation partnering with start-ups to engage customers towards a digital profile, standardize processes, personalize the service and ensure transparent and reliable information. We involve customers in the testing and co-design of new services, including through neuroscience and biofeedback tests in collaboration with universities and research centers.
We put customers at the center of the energy transition, offering a comprehensive product portfolio, commodity and beyond commodity, and a unique customer experience that ensures no one is left behind.
“On a scale of 0 to 10, would you recommend Enel to your family and friends?” This simple question is the basis for the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which allows us to measure customer satisfaction globally through simple and immediately understandable data. It is calculated, in a range from -100 to +100, as the percentage of “promoters” (score of 9 or 10 out of 10) minus the percentage of “detractors” (score between 0 and 6 out of 10). Customers are interviewed by e-mail twice a year to maximize responses and to monitor trends over time.
We complement NPS, monitoring transactional aspects aimed at detecting overall satisfaction during some of the most sensitive phases of the customer experience (such as activation completion, contact center interaction, bill delivery, etc.). We survey our customers by e-mail to measure their level of Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), using an international standard that is based on the question “On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with the ‘moment of truth’”?(4) The total is calculated as the average of all responses received. During 2022, CSAT survey coverage was completed in Italy and Spain (30 “moments of truth” per Country), is ongoing in Brazil (8 “moments of truth”) and is about to be launched in 2023 in most other markets.
Thanks to the continuous feedback from the customer base, the dedicated Customer Happiness team and the constant monitoring of happiness and satisfaction values and insights – now integrated into the operational processes of Activation, Billing, Credit and Collection and Customer Care – 2022 saw Enel achieve a solid increase in Global Net Promoter Score (weighted average of all NPS values at country level), from -2.8 in December 2021 to +5.6 in December 2022.
(4) Significant events in the relationship between customer and Company (e.g. completion of activation, interaction with the contact center, delivery of the utility bill, etc.) that determine the customer’s opinion and evaluation of the service.
In 2022, guidelines on the complaints monitoring and classification process were implemented in all countries where we operate, in order to maximize service quality and increase customer satisfaction, in accordance with applicable laws, regulations and governance rules. Our aim is the convergence of the current processes towards a common, effective and efficient model, through continuous performance monitoring and the development of internal benchmarking, aimed at highlighting a non-conformity on an existing product/service/functionality, which cannot be resolved immediately (First Contact Resolution) and therefore requires further work by the Complaints Back Office. In addition, we have worked to standardize the monitoring and quality control of complaints management with homogeneous operating methods to make the performance of the Group’s different countries of presence comparable, also thanks to the creation of a global platform that enables monitoring of indicators and trends while at the same time ensuring the correct classification of complaints handled.
We want to remain attentive to the needs of citizens, improving and maintaining access to electricity in the most disadvantaged areas and among the poorest populations. All the countries in which the Group operates in fact provide forms of support, often linked to state initiatives, which make it easier for certain sections of the population to pay electricity and gas bills, thus allowing equal access to energy. For further details on initiatives dedicated to vulnerable customers, please refer to the “Value for Disability” project in the “Managing human rights” chapter of this Report.
In line with its commitments to mitigate the effects of climate change, our Group has intensified the process of digitalizing customer relations.
During 2022, digital services were further expanded, including the promotion of digital bills and payment channels with the possibility of flexible installment plans.
The emphasis was placed on developing and marketing a digital solution with simpler and more transparent bills. In 2022, thanks to e-billing, 30% of bills globally was sent electronically. This not only reduces the costs of paper, printing and delivery of traditional bills, but also the CO2 emissions associated with all these activities.
By leveraging state-of-the-art technology standards, telephone customer service in Chile, Colombia and Peru was standardized. Thanks to a global control center, it is possible to monitor the flow of calls and manage their routing to available operators in order to minimize waiting time for our customers. In addition, the operating methods, defined at global level, tend to the highest quality standards, standardizing the “tone of voice” and style of handling customer issues.
Thanks to a data-driven approach and continuous benchmarking of best practices, both from energy companies and other leading digital industries, the following three “Customer Centric Behaviors” have been defined in order to offer our customers simple, innovative, sustainable, fast and effective solutions, through a clear language that is accessible to everyone:
The focus on Customer Happiness takes shape when we call into question all those emotional factors that, parallel to the more rational ones related to the choice and “confirmation” of a brand, are built on a more human interaction in relation to the brand and its advocates. We want to exceed our client’s expectations by optimally balancing the ratio of costs incurred against benefits received, thereby increasing the likelihood of a more stable and lasting relationship. Enhancing the perception of our work with an effective and efficient service leads to the building of a long-lasting relationship. Not only that: by focusing our energies on Customer Happiness we also optimize satisfaction, provide more stability in securing the Company’s market share and give more support to pricing policies.
Enel complies with current customer privacy regulations in all the countries where it operates. We also strive to monitor third-party companies that may be in a position to use the personal data of customers. To this end, dedicated clauses are included in contracts with partners who use personal data to carry out specific activities, for example sales services or customer happiness surveys. Customer data is an expression of the individual’s personality and identity, and must therefore be treated with due caution and guarantees. Enel considers personal data to be a shared and corporate asset at the same time. For this reason, we have appointed a Data Protection Officer who aims to guarantee full respect for the privacy of all the individuals with whom we interact. For further details, see the “Sound governance” chapter of this document.
As a result of rising energy prices, the topic of energy saving has become even more important in 2022, and in all countries where we operate, efforts have been stepped up to make energy efficiency solutions available that can guarantee customers savings in terms of both consumption and CO2 emissions. From household appliances to smart home solutions, from home services to heating and air-conditioning systems, from solar-powered systems to charging infrastructures for electric cars, solutions have been developed to help save energy, time and money. Among the proposed solutions we find Homix, the smart home solution to manage temperature, lighting and security easily and intelligently in the home, optimizing consumption on the basis of the habits and needs of the family. Induction hobs that replace traditional gas cookers and enable the cooking of food in less time, with almost twice the energy efficiency of gas cookers, greater safety and significant CO2 savings. Enel X Sun Plug&Play is the innovative flat photovoltaic system that can be installed on a balcony or on the façade of a building at a window, allowing the energy generated by the sun to contribute to the home’s energy needs, saving up to 20% on energy bills. Heat pumps use thermal energy from air or water for heating and cooling and are up to four times more energy efficient than the best boilers, saving around 40% on utility bills. Another product that is of great importance for energy freedom is rooftop photovoltaics with a storage system: it harnesses solar energy to generate electricity, saving money on electricity bills through self-consumption and energy storage. In fact, the system stores in batteries the excess electricity generated by the photovoltaic system during the day, making it available during the night when the system is not generating, thus significantly reducing energy drawn from the grid and consequently costs on the bill.
In 2022, Enel X installed a total of about 73,000 Smart Home products and more than 5,000 photovoltaic products that contribute to energy savings and efficiency.
Enel is among the companies that participated from the beginning in the United Nations High-Level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE), which led to the launch of a global roadmap to set specific goals in accelerating the energy transition and ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy systems for all by 2030.
In order to monitor the overall progress of the more than 200 Energy Compacts launched to date and counting over USD 600 billion in investments, in 2022 the UN launched the first data collection process to monitor the progress of SDG 7 commitments, the results of which were published in the Annual Progress Report 2022. Commitments to date have resulted in USD 46 billion of investment, providing better access to electricity and clean, sustainable cooking for 6 million and 14 million people worldwide respectively; 88 GW of renewable energy capacity has been installed and 2,450 GWh of electricity will be saved between 2021 and 2022 through energy efficiency.
Enel’s commitment includes several objectives underpinning the electrification strategy, such as increasing renewable capacity and demand response, reducing GHG emissions in line with the 1.5 °C scenario (certified by SBTi), installing new electric vehicle charging points, and committing to achieving new connections in rural and suburban areas in the countries where the Group maintains a presence. The commitments reported in the Energy Compact are in line with the Strategic and Sustainability Plans so as to ensure transparency and traceability in the Group’s path to clean electrification.
The Group’s commitment is complemented by:
