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1972
– 1989
As a result of this study, in 1972 a new concession company
was formed – Companhia de Electricidade de Macau –
CEM, S.A.R.L. (CEM), an incorporated company with a capital
stock of MOP20 million with the following shareholders: Sociedade
de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM) (MOP6 million),
Macau
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Signature
of CEM Constitution |
Government (MOP6 million), Leal Senado (around MOP2 million),
BNU (around MOP2 million) and Macau Canidrome Company, Sociedade
de Pelota Basca and Sociedade Won Ho (each with MOP1 million).
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| Silencers and exhausts
for engines number 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 |
There was no doubt that the arrival of CEM was eagerly awaited.
The public were fed up with MELCO and warmly welcomed the new
concessionaire company supporting it unconditionally even in
the beginning when the first problems arose. The public was
convinced that CEM needed some time to solve the pre-existing
electricity problems.
However, the revolution of 25th April 1974 in Portugal, and
its consequences for Macau (further aggravated by the oil crisis),
which among other things included the change of the Governor
of Macau, impeded the reconstruction plans of CEM. For instance,
the construction of the power station in Coloane was one of
the biggest projects at that time. It was delayed to a point
that the Japanese companies involved in the project had to be
compensated. In addition, customers protested against the increase
in tariffs, and many of them did not pay their bills for several
months. As a result of this, the corresponding debt rose to
several MOP million.
CEM and electricity began to be known in the Portuguese press
as the “number one problem in Macau”. The financial
and technical situation of CEM continued to deteriorate, and
even the conclusion of the construction of the new Coloane Power
Station could not solve the problems CEM faced.
In August 1979, Melo Egídio decided that the production
and supply of electricity granted to CEM would be directly provided
by the Government.
In July 1981, the Macau governorship changed again, and Commander
Vasco de Almeida e Costa arrived in the Territory to take office.
In February 1982, the new members of the Administrative Committee
of CEM, engineers Amilcar Martins, Rui Neves and Tavares Pires
and economist Carlos Reis took charge. The first item on the
agenda of the new management team of CEM was to make a survey
of the situation in the company. Two months later, CEM submitted
a memorandum to the Government denouncing the existence as a
“deteriorating situation”. The new managers pointed
out the fact that the existing generators in the Macau Power
Station, which had been installed between 1959 and 1971, showed
high consumption and high maintenance costs. The biggest problem
was the difficulty in finding spare parts in the marketplace.
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CEM Building |
As for the network, the report mentions that distortion existed
because the electricity of Macau was supplied from only one
extreme location of the peninsula (the same place where Marius
Bert and Ricou had installed the first power station 70 years
previously). As a result of this, bigger investments in cables
to counter high losses in the network were needed. The tariff
system, according to the managers, did not show any correspondence
with the cost structure of CEM.
Based on this report, Almeida e Costa in June 1982 made a long
presentation to the Legislative Assembly, mainly concerning
CEM. Considering the severity of the situation, the Governor
declared the mobilization of “the energy and the means
to resolve the situation”.
While tackling the big problems facing the company, the new
management team took measures to resolve the smaller problems
as well. For instance, they conducted a campaign against theft
of electricity and also targeting late payments. They began
by putting up posters on the streets and thereafter used radio
announcements in an effort to create awareness among the people.
Penalties were applied without hesitation to defaulters. Finally,
a truce was announced and a period of one month was given to
all customers to settle their bills. In this stated period,
there were long queues of people waiting to settle their bills,
and around 80% of the customers had regularized their accounts.
The message had been understood and in one-and-a-half months
MOP30 million from late payments had been collected.
In November 1983, Almeida e Costa presented a new proposal
to the Legislative Assembly, in which he defended the changing
of CEM into a company of mixed capital, and in June of the following
year a contract was signed between the Territory, CEM and STDM,
with the objective of turning CEM into a viable company. In
the same month Almeida e Costa approved the reduction of 6.5%
in electricity tariffs and a decree was published marking the
end of Government intervention in CEM. At the same time, the
company shareholders during an extraordinary General Assembly
elected a new management board. Finally, two years later, the
connection with the electricity network of Guangdong province
was completed.
The results appeared very quickly. In 1984, for the first time
in the history of the company, CEM showed profits and the report
of the Board of Directors, stated “(financially speaking)
CEM is now in a position to face its responsibilities.”
The following years confirmed the success of CEM. Nobody believed
that the “cancer” of the Territory (another expression
for “CEM”), which had absorbed significant resources
of the state treasury, had turned itself around. The viability
of CEM had finally become a reality. Therefore, the most recent
years of CEM’s history are filled with objectives that
were aimed more at growth and modernization rather that just
resolution of problems, as had been done in the past. From 1st
January 1987, a system of pensions for the workers of the concessionaire
was instituted; this represented a big innovation among private
companies in Macau.
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|
Coloane - A Power
Station (CCA). |
In May, Group 3 of the Coloane-A Power Station (CCA) commenced
operations with a potential of 24 MW. It was the first unit
of a new technology of slow Diesel groups of high reliability
and high output. According to those responsible at CEM, “this
option was extremely positive for the future of the company,
because the benefits from increased productivity in production
had permitted stabilization of the tariffs”. The following
years, new slow Diesel groups were installed successively: Group
4 of 24 MW in 1988, Groups 5 and 6 each of 37.5 MW in 1991 and
1992 respectively, and another two of 53 MW, in 1995 and 1996
respectively.
In 1987, the basic network of the substations was completed,
with the commencement of the functioning of S. Paulo and D.
Maria substations. By the end of the year, the company had shifted
its daily operations to the new CEM building next to the Macau
Power Station, situated in Estrada D. Maria II.
Symbolically, CEM returned to its origins, transferring its
headquarters to the place where everything started around 80
years ago, where it began producing electricity for the first
time to the city of Macau.
For the first time in CEM’s history, the results of 1987
activities permitted the payment of dividends, thus attracting
new shareholders.
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