06/12/2023 – 22:30
The Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) approved this Wednesday (6) the renegotiation of government contracts with four thermoelectric plants. The agreement could result, according to the agency itself, in savings of up to R$1.64 billion for consumers, who will no longer pay charges on their electricity bills.
The renegotiation involves four floating thermoelectric plants installed in Sepetiba Bay, in Rio de Janeiro. Owned by the Turkish company KPS, the plants were contracted on an emergency basis during the 2021 water crisis, but no longer needed to be activated with the recovery of the hydroelectric reservoirs in the following years.
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The government tried to amicably terminate contracts with the plants, which were contracted at high prices due to strong demand for thermoelectric plants two years ago. With the lack of agreement, the TCU began to mediate the negotiations.
Alleging difficulties in meeting the stipulated deadline, the Turkish company requested exemption from the fines imposed by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel). In addition to administrative appeals, the company initiated a legal dispute.
The four thermoelectric plants involved in the agreement have a capacity of up to 560 megawatts (MW). The agreement allowed the reduction of average generation from 144 MW to 29 MW. The fine fell from R$1.114 billion to R$336 million. In exchange, KPS will drop its lawsuits.
The savings of R$1.64 billion considers the worst-case scenario for the government, in which the Court would win the case for KPS, waive the fines and force the government to contract energy at the average price established in 2021, of R$1,599. .47 per megawatt-hour (MWh). If the government won the lawsuits, the savings would drop to R$80 million, but the TCU agreement would continue to be advantageous to the consumer.
This is the second agreement with KPS approved by the TCU. In June, the body had approved another agreement, which made the energy produced by the company’s thermoelectric plants more flexible and predicted savings of R$580 million for consumers. However, this first agreement would only be valid until the end of 2023, and Aneel could resume administrative punishments if the second agreement was not approved.
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