Cemig, the electric energy utility of Minas Gerais, owes its being one of the largest and most important electric energy distributors in Brazil in part to its technical prowess, its large customer base and also to its strategic location.
In encompassing approximately 96% of the territory of the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, Cemig's concession area covers 560,000 square kilometers (219,000 square miles), an area equivalent to that of France. Operating 48 generation plants, based predominantly on hydroelectric power, Cemig supplies more than 16 million people with electric energy in 774 municipalities within Minas Gerais. In the year 2002, Cemig provided its market with 35,916 GWh, an increase of 2% over the previous year.
In order to provide electric energy to its millions of customers, Cemig manages a distribution network in excess of 330 thousand kilometers (206 thousand miles), making it one of the four largest in the world and the largest in Latin America.
Founded on the 22th of May, 1952, by the then State Governor of Minas Gerais, Juscelino Kubitschek, who went on to become President of Brazil, Cemig was intended to be one of the cornerstones of an ambitious program aimed at the modernization, diversification and expansion of the state's industrial park. In addition to fulfilling its role as a tool for economical development, the company has consistently been efficient and competitive.
Today, as one of the most important companies integrated into the national electric grid, Cemig generates, transmits and distributes electrical energy to a market that is not only the second largest in Brazil, but which also plays host to some of the largest steel, mining, automobile and metallurgical companies in the world, namely Usiminas, Belgo Mineira, the Fiat Group, Daimler-Chrysler (Mercedes Benz), Alcan, Alcoa, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce and Açominas, among others. |
