REN’s CEO says he is worried about sacrificing profitability

REN’s CEO, Rodrigo Costa, says he is concerned about the company’s profitability. He pointed to difficulties with the price of equipment and the availability of resources.

REN’s leader was speaking at the seminar ‘Analysis of the electricity sector and outlook for the new regulatory period 2026-2029’, organised by ERSE, the Portuguese Authority for Energy Services.

The manager described REN as a “record holder” compared to its peers, with efficiency “equal to or better” than all the others. And it’s efficient from both an engineering and financial point of view, Rodrigo Costa pointed out.

The cost of transport has fallen by around 36% since 2008. “Today we are seen as an international benchmark in terms of quality of service and cost”, he said. However, it is in profitability that the comparison is inferior.

“This is the way we work and we believe it will continue. This is happening at the cost, of course, of the profitability of the company itself, which is something that concerns us”, he said.

Rodrigo Costa highlighted the company’s financial rating, which he described as one of the best in the country, and a “very good” outlook for stability. “But we are very concerned, especially about what we are talking about today, which is the next regulatory period, because we live in a situation of immense challenges”, he added.

REN’s leader also pointed out the difficulty of continuing to do “more, better and at less cost in an extraordinarily complex world”. As obstacles, he pointed to the number of employees, 700, less than in 2006, and, at the same time, spoke of the competition for equipment, in which he claims to be at a disadvantage compared to his counterparts: “We pay for transformers at the same price or more expensive”.