Comerc hopes that the full incorporation by Vibra will help the company gain more capillarity in the commercialization of electricity in different regions of the country.
The fuel distributor concluded the purchase of the company in the electricity sector in January 2025, with the acquisition of the remaining 50% of the company. Viber has already held a participation in the company since 2021. With the remaining acquisition, it began to control 100% of Comerc operations last month.
According to Comerc Commercial and Marketing Vice President Pedro Kurbhi, the merger tends to expand the company’s national acting strategy.
Today, Comerc has 16% market share In the Free Energy Market and operates a 2.1 Gigawatts solar and wind generation park (GW).
“Vibra is all over Brazil, through its resellers and their partners, which are gas stations. So we have room to grow a lot in this market, ”he says.
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The executive recalls that there is still a great potential to enter new customers in the Free Energy Market this year, as the opening to all high voltage consumers in January 2024 enabled about 100,000 consumer units to perform the movement.
In the free environment, the consumer ceases to bought the energy negotiated by the distributor of the region where it is located and can negotiate the hiring directly with the generator or with a trader.
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“Viber is able to bring a relevant amount of customers, given that it also has a very active commercial force in all Brazilian states,” says Khurbi.
Great growth potential
According to the executive, many clients have not yet been addressed or had a very superficial contact with the theme of the free contracting market.
Khurbi points out that the change in the energy purchase model tends to be a change weighted by the customer, and that face -to -face negotiations tend to give more security so that the consumer feels security to migrate.
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The pace of migration this year is expected to be in line with the observed in 2024, with about 25,000 customers leaving the regulated environment and entering the free market.
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“But I think the big challenge and the great business opportunity are at the complete opening of the market, which should happen in the coming years,” he says.
For Kurbhi, the Brazilian market is living a moment of greater alignment around the idea of the total opening of the free hiring environment, including low voltage consumers, such as residential.
“Distributors have also come to understand that the Free Market is a positive alternative for the consumer and for their business,” he says
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He points out that this process needs to have ample dialogue between the agents of the sector.
Some of the regulatory issues that still need to be addressed before total market opening are the simplification of the consumption measurement process and portability issues, as well as the establishment of rules to ensure equal competition.
“Rules and procedures should be created for all agents to have equality of competition in the free environment. There can be no favorite or privilege for consumers to be in a particular concession area, ”he says.
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Another point is the reinforcement of the required guarantees of traders to reduce potential risks to end consumers.
“It is important that there are requirements and processes that some traders must meet to qualify to operate in the market, especially those who want to serve the retail market, the low voltage market, since this customer, in general, has a vision Less complete from the risk market linked to the purchase of energy, ”he says.
Offer of Integrated Energy Solutions
In preparation for the full opening of the free market, Comerc has sought in recent years to expand contact with the retail customer.
One of the strategies in this regard was the entry into the distributed generation market, considered by the company a “general essay” for when the free opening of the free environment occurs.
“In the last three years, when we have started to invest in distributed generation, we have developed many tools, processes and controls to work on the small customer, which has a very different information management feature than we were used to before,” he explains Khurbi.
According to the executive, the decision to expand contact with consumers in retail has had a strong influence of vibra. Now, with the total incorporation, the expectation is to accelerate the strategies being developed in recent years.
Companies will seek synergies between the two companies, in order to deliver greater added value to end customers.
“We ended up having a more complete energy offer for the customer. Vibra had a proposal for liquid fuel energy, and now we have this renewable energy offer, electricity for this customer portfolio, ”he says.
