Benefit to J&F will be questioned at the Ministry of Mines and Energy

The debate seemed to have ended, but it returns with force. The authorization for Âmbar Energia to use its thermal plant in Cuiabá, Mário Covas, in place of four other gas plants that were delayed is formally questioned by Abrace (Association of Large Industrial Energy Consumers and Free Consumers).

Ámbar is the energy arm of the J&F group, which also controls JBS, a global company in the meat sector. The exchange of projects was authorized on July 12 by Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency), despite the fact that the contract prohibits this type of operation.

Abrace is preparing to enter Aneel with an appeal against the benefit, forwarding a copy of the document to the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy), questioning the folder on the issue and asking for a position.

According to Sheet found, in parallel, the opening of a representation on the issue of Amber in the TCU (Union Court of Auditors) is under analysis. The agency is gathering information to identify possible irregularities and question Aneel.

Âmbar’s four thermal plants are part of a group of 17 plants that were contracted in October last year by PCS (Simplified Competitive Procedure), an emergency energy auction. The projects should operate from May 1st of this year to December 31st, 2025. In the event of a delay in energy delivery, a fine would be paid and the contract would be terminated as of August 1st of this year.

A clause in the supply contract for these thermal plants requires that energy be delivered by the thermal plant that won the auction and clearly states that it is not allowed to replace any of them with any other plant in the system.

Of the total, 11 of them, including 4 from Ámbar, did not go into operation on the deadline, at the end of July, and have already been notified to provide clarification within 15 days to the CCEE (Chamber of Electric Energy Trading).

What is under discussion are billions of dollars to be paid by energy consumers. According to industry estimates, the set of 11 thermal plants of the PCS that were not ready would increase the electricity bill by R$ 32 billion. The four Âmbar thermal plants, taken over by the Cuiabá thermal plant, would account for almost R$ 18 billion in this account.

The National Energy Consumers Front, an association of seven entities that will be made official this week, released an open letter asking for compliance with the public notice, which provides for the termination of the contract in case of delay. This group of entities also asks for an official statement from the Minister of Mines and Energy, Adolfo Sachsida, to Aneel.

The minister has already said, in an interview with the program Direto ao Ponto, from Jovem Pan, that if a PCS thermal plant is not ready on time, he understands that the contract is broken.

He has also sent correspondence to the agency questioning the benefit given to Ámbar and asking the agency for an opinion on the legality of the measure. However, as the decision had already been rendered, there was no technical space for Aneel to produce an opinion.

In the opinion of experts in the sector, heard by the report on the condition that the names are not mentioned, if Aneel does not reverse the decision, there will be room for the ministry to act.

The measure would be unusual, as Aneel, as a regulatory agency, is an autonomous body. However, the sector’s interpretation is that the agency exceeded its competence by failing to comply with an auction rule, which is defined by the ministry, to benefit a private company.

To implement the measure that contradicted the ministry’s rule, the proposal’s rapporteur, director Efrain da Cruz, adopted two premises.

First, even though the Cuiabá thermal plant would replace the four other plants, assuming its responsibilities in the PCS, the four thermal plants would be delivered on time, and would put energy into the system. Second, the exchange of the four plants for Cuiabá would represent savings for the consumer.

On the two occasions that the topic was evaluated by the board, Âmbar obtained approval from the majority of the directors, initially in a provisional precautionary decision, then definitively. The arguments were considered valid by Sandoval Feitosa, Hélvio Guerra and Ricardo Tili. The only negative vote was that of Camila Bomfim. Giácomo Bassi declares himself unable to vote on the case.

The evaluation of the legal department of Abrace is that the two pillars of the proposal of the rapporteur Efraim fell apart.

The plants no longer supplied energy by the deadline. In an isolated move when the deadline was up, Efraim still tried to secure another change in Amber’s favor.

On July 30, it requested the CCEE to centralize the reading of the four thermal plants on the meter of the Cuiabá plant. This type of measure is possible, but needs analysis by the technical area and approval from the board. It cannot be monocratic.

Before responding to the request, the president of the CCEE, Rui Altiere, sent correspondence to Aneel for further consultation on the matter. The interim general director, Camila Bomfim, replied, on August 3, that the board’s decision did not include centralizing the measurement of Âmbar’s thermal plants and that the procedures for reading the energy generation of the four projects should follow the criteria used for the other projects. PCS plants.

Embrace also argues that there is no savings for the consumer. All PCS gas thermals are expensive. They were authorized when there was drought and risk of rationing. Now, they shouldn’t even be in operation. And the use of the Cuiabá thermal plant instead of the four PCS projects does not change that, says the entity.

Data from Aneel itself indicate that the savings offered by Âmbar for the replacement would be R$ 500 million. Depending on the spot energy price, an additional discount of R$300 million could occur. In other words, in the best scenario, there would be a reduction of R$ 800 million.

The consumer would earn more if the contract were strictly fulfilled, defends Embrace. In this case, consumers would be entitled to a fine, in the amount of R$ 260 million per month, in a total of R$ 780 million, from May to July, and would not pay the almost R$ 18 billion, says the entity.

The expectation is that after the period of 15 days for the presentation of justifications, all the delayed PCS thermal plants will claim the so-called exclusion of liability.

This mechanism allows a company to claim compensation when it suffers from exceptional intent. In this case, the companies tend to claim that they were victims of unforeseeable circumstances to justify the delay in the construction of the plants or in the delivery of energy and to ask for an extension of the deadline.

One has already anticipated, the Turkish company Karpowership Brasil Energia. His disclaimer request is on the agenda for this Tuesday’s board meeting (9).

Sought by the report, Âmbar did not respond.

CENTRÃO MOBILIZES INDICATIONS AT ANEEL

The market perception is that the debate around the delay of gas-fired thermal plants, especially the Âmbar Energia plants, even involving the Ministry of Energy and the Federal Court of Auditors, takes place in a context in which technical areas lose space and there is advancement of political influence in regulatory agencies.

The agencies were adopted, at the turn of the 1990s to 2000, to monitor, of a technical nature, essential services for the population, especially companies and sectors whose state-owned companies were being privatized. Over time, however, the appointments and even the reappointments of professionals, including experienced technicians, began to take place under the influence of parliamentarians and government officials.

The assessment is that many of these organisms are being equipped, given the level of interference.

In the case of Aneel, the recent selection rounds had a greater participation of the so-called Centrão, the bloc that brings together representatives of different parties, which have in common the proximity to the Executive power.

According to surveys carried out by the regulatory area of ​​different companies, which have to deal with the agencies, the reappointment of the experienced technician Sandoval de Araújo Feitosa Neto and his appointment as director-general had the support of the Minister of Civil House, Ciro Nogueira, licensed senator (PP-PI).

It is well known in the market that Senator Marcos Rogério (PL-RO), a strong ally of the Bolsonar government, defended that the general direction should stay with Efrarin Pereira da Cruz, a fellow countryman from Rondônia.

As the suggestion failed, the senator supported two other names, Ricardo Tili, who is also from Rondônia and has already been sworn in by Aneel, and Fernando Mosna da Silva, an advisor in the senator’s office. Carioca, Mosna has been a prosecutor at the AGU (Advocacy-General of the Union) since 2012 and was a federal prosecutor in Rondônia.

Efrain, who cannot be reappointed as director, has Marcos Rogério’s ex-wife in his office. In the market, comments circulate that the possibility of Efrain starting to act as Tili’s advisor during the quarantine period, the six months in which he cannot act in the market, would be under analysis.

Director Hélvio Guerra, another technician with a recognized curriculum at the agency, was reappointed with the support of Senator Eduardo Braga (MDB-AM). Equally respected for her technical knowledge, Agnes da Costa, who takes over at the end of the year, received the seal of approval from the former Minister of Mines and Energy Bento Albuquerque. The current interim director general, Camila Bomfim, who will leave the board, made a technical career at the agency as a specialist in regulation.

Aneel’s press office highlighted that there is an official rite for nominations. In the process, the Minister of Mines and Energy sends the name of the nominee to the Presidency of the Republic, which, in turn, sends a message submitting the name of the nominee for a hearing in the Federal Senate.

Only after the hearing and approval in the Federal Senate, the nominee is appointed and takes office in the agency.

The advisory highlighted that the nominees must have technical quality. He highlighted, for example, that Sandoval Feitosa has been a career employee at the agency for 17 years and worked in inspection for eight years, he was an advisor to the board, superintendent of two areas at Aneel, one for regulation and the other for inspection, to then have his name nominated for director.

Likewise, director Hélvio Guerra, who was superintendent of concessions and supervision of the agency’s generation and president of Aneel’s Special Bidding Commission. Guerra was also the agency’s superintendent from March 2001 to March 2019 and worked at the Ministry of Mines and Energy as deputy secretary at the Energy Planning and Development Department.

Senator Marcos Rogério’s advisory also highlighted Fernando Mosna’s attributions. “He IS a recognized technician, with a curriculum at the height of the nomination, and that political support is collective, because it depends on the approval of the names by the commission [do Senado]’, says a message sent to the report.

Sought by the report, Minister Nogueira and Senator Braga did not speak.