Government authorizes credit to compensate for loss of energy distributors

With the objective of mitigating the economic effects of the water crisis on the energy sector, the federal government released the amortization of losses of distributors with loans through the Energy Development Account (CDE).

The measure was published in the edition of the Official Gazette (DOU) this Friday (14).

The document establishes that the total credit limit will be defined by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), which will also be responsible for approving the amounts to be paid by the Water Scarcity Account to each concessionaire or permissionaire of public electricity distribution service. Borrowing can be done until May 2022.

“Due to the costs resulting from the measures to face the water scarcity scenario and also the effects associated with macroeconomic issues such as inflation, exchange rates and high international fuel prices, there was a high concentration of costs, with a consequent effect on energy distributors. and also the Brazilian consumer”, justifies the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME).

In practice, the decree regulates what was already provided for in Provisional Measure No. 1,078, of December 13, 2021. The loan aims to cover the difference between the revenues collected in the electricity bill of Brazilians that are not being sufficient to cover expenses with the power generation.

According to the MME, the financial operations, called Water Scarcity Account, will be, in operational and structuring terms, similar to the Account in the Regulated Contracting Environment (Account-ACR) and the Account-Covid. In both cases mentioned, the borrowing costs fell to the final consumer on the electricity bill, such as the water scarcity tariff, which added R$ 14.20 for every 100 kW/h consumed.