Endesa entrusts Izertis with the operation and maintenance of the CONFÍA project for the energy protection of vulnerable groups
Endesa and our company have signed an agreement for the integration, operation and maintenance of the CONFÍA project, financed by CTA (Andalusian Technological Corporation), after the success of the tests carried out last year at the Malaga town hall. This initiative by Endesa, a pioneer throughout Europe, aims to detect consumers who are in a situation of severe vulnerability at risk of exclusion as soon as possible so that the aid provided for the legislation can be managed on time. Our firm, IBM's business partner, will deploy the service that has been created on the IBM Blockchain platform, in the 20 Spanish city councils that request it. After a validation period of two months, it is expected that it can be offered to the councils and marketers that require it.
The use of CONFÍA allows city councils, marketers and autonomous communities, to detect in real time vulnerable users at risk of social exclusion, receiving the necessary data to instantly verify if it is a person who meets the criteria to benefit from the Voucher Social.
IBM Blockchain technology, available on IBMCloud, allows information to be stored in a distributed database and managed by all those involved in an encrypted and secure manner, maintaining operations in a transparent and traceable manner, respecting the regulations on data protection and the right to oblivion.
The system used to date, in accordance with the regulations, means a communication from the marketer to the Autonomous Communities and these, in turn, must send the information to the municipalities that are in charge of managing the aid in the appropriate cases. On many occasions, the social services are informed of the cases when the affected ones turn to the town hall, with the file quite advanced. These delays in the flow of information can cause problems of late payment and granting of aid.
However, the use of IBM Blockchain technology will facilitate procedures, allowing the immediate flow of information. Thanks to the application of the CONFÍA project, council halls will have the information in real time, instantly receiving the data of the people who have incurred in a non-payment of the electricity supply. The social services, in turn, will be able to instantly cross-check this information with their own database and contact the company to avoid a supply cut if it is found that it is a consumer who meets the criteria to benefit from the aid. for severe vulnerable consumers at risk of social exclusion.
“At Endesa, we are managing to modify the paradigm on the flow of really complex information, through this project that was born as an unprecedented innovation in Europe. For us, the implementation of CONFÍA fulfills our commitment to Innovability (Innovation at the service of Sustainability), in this case using cutting-edge technology such as Blockchain, at the service of the most disadvantaged. Our wish is that this pilot with 20 town halls is a firm step to demonstrate that the technology is ready to extend the benefits of the project to the entire national territory as soon as possible ”, has commented José Mínguez, head of Commercial Innovation at Endesa and director of this project.
Origins of the project
In November 2019, Endesa signed a collaboration agreement with the Malaga City Council to speed up the processing of municipal aid to avoid supply cuts for people without resources. Immediately a multidisciplinary team was formed made up of social agents from the City Council, a Research team from the University of Malaga, Blockchain architecture experts, a team of legal experts, as well as information and innovation systems staff, among others. This team has carried out the developments and tests throughout 2020 with one of the leading international Blockchain firms, Izertis.
At the end of the year, various scalability and security tests were carried out, initially with the Malaga City Council, the first town hall in Spain to benefit from the system. Now it is intended to carry out a first phase with 20 city councils, so that later the technology company itself is in charge of extending the initiative throughout the national territory and carrying out maintenance and operation during the next 6 years. In this way, it is easier for other marketing companies to adopt this solution to any national council hall.
“This initiative has become a benchmark for us, allowing us to combine an enormous number of variables to make possible a system that democratizes the possibility of protecting vulnerable economies. The most avant-garde technology is brought together in it, combined with companies of absolute reference, and all this focused on a common objective: to protect those who need it ”, has highlighted the director of Business Development of Izertis Pedro Gómez.
IBM Blockchain
The support used for this occasion will be the IBM Blockchain infrastructure available in the IBM Cloud, which will guarantee the agile, encrypted and secure information flow applied to each transaction in your cloud, at the same time that it will allow to protect the security and privacy of all the actors involved.
“With this project, administrative barriers that were historically considered unalterable are broken. With CONFÍA, we once again contribute to improving our society by putting technology at the service of people ”, has stated Javier Valencia, Vice President of Technology at IBM Spain.