Entities surround senators and avoid R$ 17 billion in the electricity bill

Consumer protection organizations consider this Tuesday (27) as an important moment in the new phase of mobilizations against increases in the electricity bill promoted by Congress. In a movement that lasted almost three weeks, they managed to avoid the transfer of R$ 17 billion to the electricity tariff of all states.

“The senators understood that we have reached the limit when it comes to putting new costs on the electricity bill, especially for the poorest consumers, who suffer even from small readjustments”, says Clauber Leite, coordinator of the energy area at the Polis Institute, an organization that defends rights and demands of low-income citizens.

Different groups have acted this year to prevent parliamentarians from resorting to the use of tortoises, the name given to parliamentary amendments that are included in PLs (bills) and MPs (provisional measures), but are not related to the original text. They only serve the lobby of private sectors, normally creating extra expenses for those who pay the electricity bill.

This Tuesday, MP 1,118 expired. It dealt with changes in the fuel sector, but received tortoises in the Chamber that would change rules in the electricity market. The changes made by the rapporteur, deputy Danilo Fortes (União-CE), had the support of the president of the Chamber, deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL), which allowed a lightning process of 15 hours. Approved on August 31, it went to the Senate.

From then on, different interlocutors from the electric energy sector concentrated their efforts to explain the impacts of the tortoises to the senators. In addition to civil organizations, they also worked in the technical backstage of the MME (Ministry of Mines Energy) and Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency).

On Sunday (25), the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), announced the suspension of the session that would evaluate the MP on Monday (26), signaling that they would let the measure lapse.

“It’s a beautiful moment because, after a long time, we managed to hold the tortoises, but I have no doubt that these will return”, says Paulo Pedrosa, president of Abrace (Brazilian Association of Large Energy Consumers and Free Consumers).

This mobilization was fundamental to stop these amendments, and now we are going to work to reverse other undue increases”, says Luiz Eduardo Barata, president of the National Front of Energy Consumers.

The next flag is to remove the tortoises from the Eletrobras privatization law. These amendments require the construction of 8 GW (gigawatts) of gas-fired thermal plants where there is no pipeline to carry the gas, nor a transmission line to connect the projects to the consumer centers. The bill for the entire infrastructure would fall on the consumer. The first auction of these gas-fired power plants, with 2 GW, takes place this Friday (30).

“There is nothing we can do about this auction, but we are going to work in Congress and in the government to change the law and avoid other auctions”, says Barata.

THE EFFECT OF AMENDMENTS

The changes made by the Chamber in MP 1,118 especially served companies in the renewable energy sector, with new projects.

One of the changes created a lock for increases in energy transmission costs for new projects and transferred the difference to the consumer.

Aneel drew attention to the fact that there are 187 GW in projects, which could scale the final increase. “In practice, the entire cost of expanding the transmission systems will fall on consumers of electricity and on projects already implemented”, warned the agency’s official letter sent to the Senate.

The Chamber also tweaked a technical mechanism called the locational signal — the use of price to encourage or inhibit consumption and investment.

The technicians understand, for example, that where there is an excess of supply, the consumer has to pay cheaper, and where there is a lack of supply, the consumer has to pay more. However, the deputies raised the electricity bill of those who were closer to the generation, especially in the North and Northeast, where wind and solar park projects are concentrated.

In practice, the deputies created a new subsidy.

Abrace estimated that these changes would lead to an increase of R$ 8 billion in the tariff and calculated the transfer to the electricity bill in all states. The most affected were precisely those linked to parliamentary leaders who had decision-making power in the MP process.

Alagoas, state of the president of the Chamber, would have an increase of 5.67%. Ceará, by the rapporteur Danilo Fortes, would pay 4.1% more. Minas Gerais, state of the President of the Senate, 4.27%.

Another amendment grafted by the deputies extended the period of subsidies for the so-called incentivized sources, especially wind and solar, from four to six years. In this case, there would be a cost of at least R$ 9 billion in the two additional years, which would remain in the tariffs for 30 years, given that the period of grants benefited by the changes, explained Aneel in the letter to the Senate.