Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency) set the maximum amount for the loan negotiated with electricity distributors at R$ 10.8 billion to cover the extra cost of thermal plants triggered to face the water crisis in 2021.
According to the agency, a first stage of the operation will have a ceiling of R$ 5.6 billion. The draft resolution put up for public consultation this Thursday (3) provides, however, for the possibility of a second installment of up to R$ 5.2 billion.
The loan is intended to cover the shortfall in the tariff flags account, which stood at BRL 10.5 billion in 2021, even with the adoption of the water scarcity flag, which increased the extra fee on the electricity bill to BRL 14. .20 for every 100 kWh (kilowatt hours) consumed.
Electricity distributors claim that the collection was not enough to cover all costs and the sector has been facing cash problems to honor its energy purchase commitments to supply the final consumer.
This segment works as a cashier for the electricity sector, collecting the money that will later be distributed to the generation and transmission segments. The initial expectation of the sector was that the loan would be around R$ 14 billion.
It is the second rescue operation for the electricity sector since the beginning of the pandemic. In 2020, the government negotiated with banks a financing of R$ 14.8 billion to distributors to cover a hole in revenue caused by the abrupt drop in energy consumption.
The two operations are inspired by a loan granted to distributors in 2014, still in the Dilma Rousseff government, when the sector ran out of money to pay for high energy prices in a scenario of high demand.
In a note, Aneel says that the current operation, called the Water Scarcity Account, “aims to reduce the financial impacts – and their subsequent transfer to consumers’ tariffs – of the costs related to the purchase of electricity in the 2021 water shortage period. “.
The financing will be negotiated with public and private banks and will begin to be paid by the consumer in 2023 through a charge levied on the electricity bill, the CDE (Energy Development Account). This reduces the need for tariff readjustments in 2022.
To calculate the amounts allocated to each distributor, Aneel will ask companies to declare, within ten days after publication of the resolution, the amounts of resources they intend to use. The transfers will be made by the CCEE (Electric Energy Commercialization Chamber).
The high use of thermal plants to save water in the reservoirs was one of the main factors of inflationary pressure in 2021, when the IPCA, the official inflation index, reached 10.06%, the highest value since 2015.
With the bill more expensive, many Brazilians have stopped paying the bill to direct their budget towards the purchase of food.
On Wednesday (3), the CMSE (Committee for Monitoring the Electricity Sector) decided to reduce the ceiling price for the activation of thermal plants to try to contain the pressure on the electricity bill. A ceiling of R$1,000 per MWh (megawatt-hour) had been established in January. Now, it’s R$ 600 per MWh.
Source: Folha
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