Project that creates a framework for own energy generation goes to sanction

The Chamber of Deputies approved this Thursday (16) a bill that establishes that consumers who produce and use renewable energy sources, such as solar, pay a fee for the use of energy distribution wires.

Deputies accepted, in a symbolic vote, a change made by the senators, but rejected the others. With that, the project goes to the sanction of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

According to the text, for current projects or those filed up to 12 months after the publication of the law, however, an acquired right of existing benefits until 2045 was guaranteed, which allows the investments made to be amortized.

The process of the project was surrounded by pressure from micro-generators from renewable energy sources, especially solar, and from energy distributors, who demanded the charging of a tariff for the use of the distribution system corresponding to the cost of the service provided by the company itself.

The controversy focused on micro and mini power generators, which are those that consume renewable energies that they produce themselves. This is the case for those who install photovoltaic panels at home or at the company to take advantage of solar energy, for example.

This type of energy is the most affordable for micro and mini generation. There are 700 thousand solar energy consumer units, which accounts for almost 98% of the universe of distributed generation, according to data from Absolar (Brazilian association of photovoltaic solar energy).

Despite generating part of the energy it uses, this consumer needs to be connected to an energy distributor.

The distributors work with a compensation system, which is a balance of what the user produced and what energy consumed. At the end of the month, he pays or receives to the company the difference between what he injected into the network and what he used.

However, some sectorial charges paid by common consumers were excluded from the bill, such as the tariff for the use of the distribution system — the amount paid for the energy to be transmitted over the wire.

In 2012, a resolution by Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency) regulated the activity of mini-generation and distributed micro-generation, with a forecast that the topic would be revised in 2019. Since then, however, different pressures have postponed the discussion.

One of the main criticisms was that the subsidy was aimed at consumers who supposedly didn’t need this financial relief — that is, higher incomes.

For new projects, there is a transition. Consumers who participate in the compensation system will only pay the tariff for the use of the distribution network wire on the portion of excess electricity that was compensated.

The text brings a transition to change the tariff collection regime. In 2023, the consumer would pay 15%, while the other 85% would be paid by the CDE (energy development account). In 2024, 30% would be paid by the consumer and 70% through the CDE.

The expectation is that the microgenerator will pay 100% of the fee for using the Fio B distribution system as of 2029, but the rule will still be defined by Aneel in the next 18 months.

The project institutes the Social Renewable Energy Program, aimed at investments in the installation of photovoltaic systems and other renewable sources, in the shared local or remote modality, for low-income consumers.

The financial resources will come from the Energy Efficiency Program, from complementary sources of funds, or from a portion of other revenues from the activities carried out by the distributors, converted to reduce tariffs.

The electricity distributor must submit a work plan to the Ministry of Mines and Energy containing, at a minimum, the multi-year investment, the system installation goals, the justifications for the classification of beneficiaries and the reduction in the annual volume of the social tariff subsidy of electricity of program participants

The distributor must also promote public calls for accreditation of specialized companies and, later, competitive calls for contracting services for the implementation of installations of photovoltaic systems, local or remote, or other renewable sources.