Program director of the Ministry’s Executive Secretariat says that the measure can bring benefits, but it is “complex”
The program director of the Executive Secretariat of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Camilla Fernandes, stated that the proposal for the total opening of the free energy market has the support of the federal government. She made the statement on Tuesday morning (May 24, 2022), during a lecture by Ipea (Institute of Applied Economic Research) on the Law 414/2021which opens the market in up to 42 months.
“This project, as it currently stands, has already aggregated everything that has been developed, public consultations, studies, etc. He also supported the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of Economy, the government as a whole. The Executive, then, awaits this advance of the legislature,” Camilla said.
The director stated, however, that the opening process will be “complex”.
“The conclusion of the public consultation made by the EPE (Energy Research Company) was that the opening of the market, yes, can generate benefits for society, it can bring about a reduction in the costs of electric energy. But this process is complex and demands in-depth studies and, mainly, several changes in the regulatory framework of the sector”, said the director.
Last week, the deputy secretary of the Secretariat for Infrastructure Development (SDI) of the Ministry of Economy, Gabriel Fiuza, told the Power 360 that the folder’s understanding is that the project is very important for the electricity sector.
“We have been supporting this project and dealing with MME since the beginning. There is a lot of convergence on the government side. So, I think this PL is too mature to be approved”.
For Fiuza, the project has the potential to attract more investment and reduce tariffs in the right way.
“Reduce through economic rationality, better decisions, consumer empowerment. And by incorporating more innovation, more technologies. So, it is a fundamental project for the future of the country”, said the secretary.
The free market is an environment in which consumers and traders – or generators – freely negotiate the prices they want to pay for electricity. In a similar way, it is already done in the mobile telephony market, in which customers hire the service of the operator they want.
It is the opposite of the regulated market, in which most consumers are, who cannot choose who to buy energy from. They are served by the distributors, which hold the concession for the region where they live and already have contracted energy from generators. For these consumers, the energy tariff is reviewed annually, based on tariff review analysis processes carried out by Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency).
Currently, only consumers with a load greater than 500kW can have contracts in the free market. According to hug (Associação Brasileira de Comercializadores de Energia) savings in relation to regulated market rates reach 58%.
PL 414/2021 is ready to be voted on by the Chamber of Deputies. There is an expectation, in the electricity sector, that the vote will be held in May. Afterwards, it will have to be voted on again by the Senate, due to changes that the deputies made to the text after the 1st vote by the senators.
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