Government anticipates end of the extra fee to pay for thermal plants in the electricity bill

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) announced this Wednesday (6th) that the extra fee charged on the electricity bill to finance thermal plants during the water crisis will be abolished on the 16th. (kilowatt hours) consumed was implemented in September.

From the 16th, said the president, the green flag will take effect, which has no additional cost for the consumer. Com a mudança, afirmou Bolsonaro pelo Twitter, a conta de luz deve ter uma redução de cerca de 20%.

Called a water scarcity flag, the R$14.20 fee was created to cover the gap generated by excess thermal generation during the most critical period of the crisis in the Brazilian electricity sector, when the country was still under the risk of electricity rationing. energy.

The original schedule foresaw the validity of this rate until April and the market already expected the adoption of the green flag in May, given the recovery of the level of the reservoirs with the heavy rains that fell in the country during the summer.

“With the reduction of more expensive thermoelectric generation and the increase in production from hydroelectric plants and other renewable sources, costs will be lower during the next dry period, which runs from May to November, which will translate into lower tariffs for consumers” , wrote the president.

According to the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy), the anticipation of the end of the charge is justified by the reduction in the use of thermal plants and by the expectation of increased production from hydroelectric plants and wind and solar plants, which will reduce the cost of energy in the dry season. .

The change benefits higher-income consumers, as low-income consumers were not affected by the water scarcity flag. This group has been without extra charge on the electricity bill for four months.

With the rains, the average level of reservoirs in the Southeast and Central-West regions reached 63.3% in March, the last month of the so-called rainy season. The two regions concentrate around 70% of the energy storage capacity of Brazilian hydroelectric plants.

The volume recorded in March is almost double that recorded in the same month of 2021, the year in which the country was at risk of energy rationing. In addition to higher-than-expected rains, the recovery also reflects the activation of more expensive thermal plants that pressured the electricity bill in recent months.

With the improvement in the level of reservoirs, the price of energy in the wholesale market is today at R$ 55.70 per MWh (megawatt-hour), the lowest possible value in the current system. At the height of the crisis, it spent three months at the ceiling set for 2021, of R$583.88 per MWh.

Despite the expectation of relief with the extra fee, the electricity bill will continue to be pressured by the high use of thermal plants in 2021, which justified the granting of a R$ 5.3 billion loan to the sector, and by the decision to hire emergency plants to try to fill the reservoirs in the coming years.

These plants were contracted in an auction held in October to deliver an average of 775 MW (megawatts) between 2022 and 2025 at a total cost of BRL 39 billion. The process was criticized at the time by experts and the industry for guaranteeing projects high levels of energy generation even in periods of full reservoirs.

The government justified the order by saying that it needed to reinforce the reservoirs to avoid risks of rationing in the coming years, but now with the hydroelectric plants already in good condition, the projects are unnecessary, according to industry experts.