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Eletrobras and ISA Cteep evaluate actions that can reduce the debt balance of indemnities

Eletrobras and ISA Cteep said this Monday (4th) that they are evaluating actions to reverse a precautionary measure that could impact the calculation of indemnities of more than R$30 billion owed to electricity transmission concessionaires.

The precautionary measure could reduce the debt balance of indemnities by around R$ 2.4 billion, according to calculations in a technical note, after the director of the regulatory agency Aneel Efrain Cruz monocratically decided to comply with an association’s request to suspend the effectiveness of a agency’s 2017 resolution.

The resolution defined criteria and amounts for payment of indemnities to transmission companies for the early renewal of their contracts in 2013. These amounts are paid for by consumers, through charges built into the electricity bill tariffs.

In last week’s decision, Cruz determined a recalculation of part of the debt because of an alleged error by Aneel in financial updates of the amounts, with “undue excess of capitalization of interest on the cash flow of the financial installment”.

These indemnities to energy transmitters are known in the industry as “Rede Básica Sistema Existante”, or RBSE. The amounts are paid to a group of nine concessionaires, mainly controlled by Eletrobras and ISA Cteep.

The imbroglio on this subject has been going on for several years, with comings and goings, and has been the subject of legal actions.

In 2017, Aneel recognized that these indemnities should form part of the remuneration base of some broadcasters, but there was still a discussion about the calculation of the financial component of the RBSE.

In April 2021, Aneel ended this discussion about the remuneration of the financial component, but at the same time rescheduled payments to broadcasters due to the tariff pressure experienced at the time. There was a reduction in the payment curve for the 2021 and 2022 cycles and an increase in the flow after 2023, which has been reflected in the transmission companies’ quarterly accounting results.

However, the topic came to the fore this year, after the release, in June, of a technical note from Aneel that recommended a change in the treatment of the financial component of the RBSE. With the change, it was estimated that the total debt balance would fall from BRL 33.92 billion to BRL 31.52 billion, with a base date of July 2020.

In a statement on Monday, ISA Cteep said that, through its legal advisors, “it is acting to ensure the exercise of the adversary system and the broad defense of its rights”.

Eletrobras noted that the matter must still have its merits analyzed and deliberated by the board of Aneel, and said that it is “following up and acting in relation to the issue”.

In a note to clients, Credit Suisse stated that any change in these receivables affects the Ebtida and the potential value of the transmission companies.

“We believe that a unilateral decision cannot be sustained and is not a representation of regulatory best practice and, as a result, we do not believe that Mr. Efrain will be implemented without extensive discussion and hearing from all parties involved (regulator, technical staff and companies)”, wrote analysts Carolina Carneiro and Rafael Nagano.

Source: CNN Brasil

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