Aneel authorizes tariff readjustments in Angra after government pressure

As the government launches a new program for refinancing distributors to avoid higher costs for consumers, Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency) granted, on Tuesday (14), a 39.8% increase in the energy produced by nuclear power plants in Angra 1 and 2.

With the readjustment, the tariff for Angra 1 and 2 will be R$ 349.15 per megawatt-hour (MWh) as of next year, against R$ 249.64 per MWh this year. The new value takes effect from January 1st. The reference price for energy on the market today is around R$190 per MWh.

The new tariff will be applied at different rates for each distributor and varies according to the amount of energy that each one buys from Eletronuclear, which controls the two plants. The average high, however, will be 0.75%, according to Aneel.

A large part of the increase in the tariff at the Angra plants is due to the deficit generated in previous years resulting from the difference between the tariff charged and the plant’s costs, which were higher when the price of fuel used for energy generation was higher.

With this readjustment, the government will have to deal with more pressure on energy prices, especially for large consumers (industries). The input is already what weighs most in the basket used to calculate inflation measured by the IPCA.

As the readjustment was inevitable, Aneel has been evaluating other ways to ease the impact of higher generation costs on tariffs next year. There is pressure from the Jair Bolsonaro government to avoid a tariff during the campaign in which the president will seek re-election.

This week, after months of waiting for the market, the government issued a new provisional measure with a second round of the promised financial aid to distributors. These loans will be incorporated into consumers’ electricity bills in subsequent years.