The government’s delay in bailing out energy distributors transfers another R$ 5 billion in costs to companies

The government’s delay in issuing the decree that releases the second round of loans to help energy distributors has led companies affected by the water crisis to pay an additional R$ 5 billion, the amount of the sectorial charges that will have to be paid this Wednesday ( 5).

According to Abradee (Brazilian Association of Electric Energy Distributors), at the end of last year, the companies sent an official letter to Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency) requesting the postponement of this payment until the release of the loans, which will be coordinated by BNDES.

In response, Aneel informed that the sector’s lawsuit became a process at the agency that will be analyzed by the board of directors in the coming weeks. This is expected to be resolved by February.

“The order was placed at the end of last year. There won’t be time and we will have to pay [esses encargos], which will further increase our difficulties,” said Marcos Madureira, president of Abradee.

In the first round of bailouts, last year, the companies estimated a total of BRL 17 billion in loans. This time, the expectation is that the value is around R$ 14 billion.

Inspired by a loan coordinated by the government of Dilma Rousseff during the 2014 crisis, this assistance was aimed at solving a liquidity problem for distributors, anticipating resources for these companies that would only be obtained in future tariff adjustments.

For the second stage of the aid to be made possible, President Jair Bolsonaro needs to sign a decree giving authorization. After that, Aneel will edit resolutions detailing the operation.

“Even if the value [do socorro] has not yet been defined, it would be important for this decree to come out soon because we have already dragged a cost [déficit] of R$ 14 billion until November of last year,” said Madureira.

This value, also according to the entity, derives from the difference between the collection of electricity bills and the costs involved in contracting more expensive energy (thermal and imported) to face the lack of water in the reservoirs.

In order to define the necessary amount, the sector considers that it will be necessary to calculate how much the ONS (National Electric System Operator) will authorize in new thermal energy contracts between January and April this year, when the term of the water scarcity flag expires.

It will also be necessary to close how much will be granted in bonuses to companies that have joined the energy consumption reduction program.

The water scarcity flag was created by Aneel precisely to support the strategy of coping with the drought on the hydroelectric reservoirs, but even so, the deficit in the flags account is already over R$ 8 billion, according to the agency.

The distribution sector works as a kind of cash in the electricity sector, collecting money from the consumer to transfer to the energy generation and transmission segments, in addition to paying its own costs.

Thus, if costs rise too much, companies may face liquidity problems until the next tariff readjustments add extra expenses to the tariff.

The loan is now paid by the consumer in installments on the electricity bill.

At the end of the year, the government’s forecast was to release financial assistance to distributors in mid-January. Now, the new date has moved to the beginning of February.

This situation will further aggravate the cash position of companies, which will have to bear another R$ 4.5 billion in new costs between January and April resulting from the increase in the tariff of nuclear plants at Angra 1 and 2 and at Proinfra (program incentive for renewable energy).