Brazil’s energy distributors to borrow up to US$2 billion

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The proposal was presented at an extraordinary meeting of the agency by director Efrain Pereira da Cruz, rapporteur of the issue, and is pending the approval of other directors.

The credit operation intended to lower the electricity bill in 2022 will be divided into two installments.

The first part of the loan amounts to R$5.6 billion and will be submitted to public consultation until February 13.

This part is intended to cover the deficit in the tariff flags account in April 2022, after the end of the water scarcity flag.

The funds will also cover energy imports in July and August last year and the bonus granted to consumers who saved energy.

The second part of the loan will be finalized in May, but ANEEL has estimated the amount at R$5.2 billion so far. The last installment is intended to partially cover the costs of thermoelectric plants contracted in December last year, through a simplified auction.

According to ANEEL’s technical area, with no mitigation measures, the power bill would rise 21% in 2022. The operation aims to prevent the costs of the 2021 energy crisis from being entirely passed on to consumers this year. With the loan, distributors will assume these extra costs, reimbursing the banks over the next few years.

Despite preventing a higher energy price hike in 2022, the credit operation will be paid by consumers from 2023 on, according to the proposal presented yesterday.

The funds will be collected as a new surcharge on the electricity bill until distributors pay off the loan. Banks and the Electric Energy Trading Chamber (CCEE) will be in charge of defining the loan’s term.

According to the government, the loan will be directed to distributors, who collect the amounts from consumers through their electricity bills, and will pay the energy generating and transmission companies, which also bear a higher cost of electricity during the water crisis in the reservoirs.

PROVISIONAL MEASURE

The loan to distributors was authorized through Provisional Measure 1078, published in December. The financing aims to offset the financial impact of the drought on the companies’ cash flow.

On January 14, a decree signed by President Jair Bolsonaro established the Hydric Scarcity Account. Administered by the CCEE, this account will be allocated the necessary funds to cover “all or part of the additional costs arising from the water shortage situation for concessionaires and licensees of public service in electric power distribution.”

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