Chile’s largest electric distribution company, Compañía General de Electricidad (CGE), serves over 3 million customers nationwide. As a key player in the energy sector, CGE has committed to operating responsibly and sustainably, which requires effective management of socio-environmental commitments and strengthening ties with communities and stakeholders.

In its pursuit to meet its objectives, CGE faced the challenge of managing thousands of stakeholders (over 6,100) and hundreds of commitments related to its activities (over 500). This daunting task highlighted the absence of a standardized system, complicating the effective tracking of interactions, achievement of goals, and building a corporate memory.

Percy Avendaño, CGE’s Coordinator of Institutions and Communities in Arica—Iquique, mentioned that many commitments were overlooked during meetings to manage them due to the lack of tools that allowed for a comprehensive view of all information.

To address this issue, CGE sought a solution and proceeded to invite a select group of providers capable of meeting its operational scale requirements through a tender process.

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M-Risk: A Strategic Ally 

To tackle the challenges of commitment compliance and effective stakeholder engagement, CGE chose M-Risk, a software for managing environmental, social, and regulatory compliance, catering to the electric company’s needs. M-Risk offered several features:

• Centralizing Information: Provided a centralized platform to store and manage all information related to stakeholders and ESG commitments, allowing CGE a comprehensive view of its interactions with communities and monitoring progress.
• Standardizing Processes: Facilitated the standardization of stakeholder management processes, ensuring consistent and efficient management of interactions.
• Enhancing Traceability: Enabled CGE to track the history of interactions with each stakeholder, aiding in trend identification and informed decision-making.
• Generating Reports and Insights: The software produces customized reports that allow CGE to measure the performance of its management programs and monitor commitment compliance.

Results

The implementation of M-Risk significantly impacted how CGE approached its management duties. The company achieved:

• Improved Efficiency: Many manual tasks associated with stakeholder management were automated, freeing up employee time for more strategic activities.
• Increased Transparency: Enhanced transparency in CGE’s interactions with communities, building trust and improving the company’s reputation.
• Strengthened Relationships: Strengthened bonds with communities, garnering greater support for projects and operations, and organizing activities and reportability across five strategic pillars: Neighborhood Councils, Social Institutions, Authorities, Media, and Contingency.
• Enhanced Decision-Making: CGE’s executives now have the necessary information for strategic stakeholder and commitment management decision-making.

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Additional Benefits

Besides the aforementioned results, CGE gained other significant benefits from implementing M-Risk, such as:

• Risk Reduction: Helped CGE identify and mitigate risks associated with community interactions.
• Improved Communication: Facilitated communication between CGE and its stakeholders, enhancing mutual understanding and building stronger relationships.
• Increased Compliance: Assisted CGE in fulfilling its legal and regulatory obligations related to socio-environmental commitments.

Lessons Learned

CGE learned valuable lessons from implementing M-Risk, which could be beneficial for other companies facing similar challenges:

• Recognizing the Value of Up-to-Date Information: Maintaining a continuous record of data, events, activities, and other relevant information on the platform is essential. This ensures a complete and up-to-date institutional memory, particularly useful during audits or internal changes.
• Importance of Continuous Improvement: The platform implementation should be periodically reviewed and updated to ensure it adapts to the changing needs of the company and stakeholders.

CGE Today

Percy Avendaño explains that M-Risk’s solutions organize information and aid in reportability: “It has saved us time and better organized how we work. We now know where to place information and remember the histories of different types of activities. It helps us structure activities, commitments, and follow-ups.

Today, the electric company has orderly information always available thanks to M-Risk’s cloud solution, allowing them to access data at any time and under any circumstances. Additionally, they can instantly obtain reports and indicators about their operations, with reliable and up-to-date information.

CGE’s success story with M-Risk demonstrates the value of using a compliance management and stakeholder engagement platform to enhance efficiency, transparency, and decision-making. M-Risk has enabled CGE to strengthen its community relationships and fulfill its commitments successfully.

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