A ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) responded to criticism from MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy), that accused of “inertia or inability” in the deliberation of important agendas for the government, even threatening to intervene in the regulatory agency's actions.
The ministry questioned, mainly, the processes related to the approval of the new governance of CCEE (Electric Energy Trading Chamber), to disclose the tariff impact perceived by electricity consumers resulting from the anticipation of CDE receivables (Energy Development Account), the publication of the minutes of the CER (Reserve Energy Contracts) covered by Provisional Measure No. 1.232/2024 and the implementation of the policy of pole sharing.
Initially, ANEEL made an extensive argument highlighting the results achieved by the Agency over its 27 years of existence, such as the implementation of more than R$ 1 trillion investment for the electricity sector.
Considering only the auctions for power generation and transmission lines, R$497,6 billion and R$389,9 billion in investments, respectively.
The Agency then reinforced that it “operates with chronic deficit of 30% of servers of the already outdated framework provided for in Law No. 10.871 of 2004”. ANEEL lost 92 servers in recent years, with 16 in 2024 alone.
"The The last public competition was held in 2010 and the 40 vacancies that will be filled through the Unified National Public Competition (CNPU), held on August 19, do not cover the current gap of 248 servers and do not even alleviate the situation of evasion of civil servants to better-paid careers in the public sector, to the private sector, retirements, among others”, says in an excerpt from the document, which the Canal Solar had access.
Furthermore, the Agency mentions the budget cuts and contingencies. The activities of ANEEL are paid for by the Inspection Fee, charged on the energy bill of all energy consumers. In 2023, R$1,14 billion was collected, with a forecast of R$1,22 billion collected in 2024.
"However, in 2024, they were destined for ANEEL only around R$400 million, which contributes to restricting the performance in fulfilling its institutional mission.”, says the document.
Another aspect highlighted was the issue of governance. A ANEEL carried out an administrative restructuring to accommodate the position of Ombudsman and, to date, no such action has been taken indication by the Federal Government. The same goes for the director position that has been vacant since the departure of Hélvio Guerra, in May of this year.
“It is important to emphasize that the incomplete collegiate body brings serious repercussions to the Agency's management, such as the accumulation of administrative activities and processes, tied votes or votes without a minimum majority, problems with the minimum quorum for deliberations, among others”, the document informs.
A ANEEL also highlighted that, since January 2023, 2.599 processes have been distributed to directors, of which 2.747 have been deliberated. “In other words, the number of cases deliberated in this government was greater than the total number of cases distributed, which shows that there was no omission by the Agency in deciding matters within its jurisdiction,” says the document.
Generation and Transmission Auctions
A ANEEL said that all auctions whose guidelines were published by the MME in this government were carried out within the defined deadlines, “although often exiguous”.
The Agency took the opportunity to express concern about the lack of publication of the guidelines for the Capacity Reserve Auction, “which could significantly compromise the timely execution of these auctions.”
Renewal of Concessions
A ANEEL said that presented all the analyses and contributions requested by the MME, however, the deadline to define the terms of the new contracts “was set unilaterally, without due assessment of its feasibility following the regulatory procedure”.
“A ANEEL, in the exercise of its competence, has been acting diligently and always seeking to overcome existing time obstacles, preserving the relevant discussion with society, which must occur to substantiate the proposal and approval of new contractual terms, in line with the guidelines of the Granting Authority.”
Rio Grande do Sul
The Agency said took all measures to create conditions for the rapid restoration of the State's electricity services, including relaxing regulatory requirements. All processes, although not scheduled, were prioritized over other ongoing activities.
Costs and benefits of Distributed Generation
A ANEEL recalled that Law No. 14.300/2022 defined a 6-month deadline for the CNPE (National Energy Policy Council) to set the guidelines for the costs and benefits of the MMGD and 18 months for the ANEEL regulate such guidelines. However, the CNPE's delay made it impossible to meet the deadline..
Spanish Sporthorse
Regarding the securitization of CDE (Energy Development Account) receivables, ANEEL said that "strictly complied with the tight 10-day deadline for publishing tariff impacts".
“On August 22, 2024, the date the MME letter was signed, all information was available on the MME website. ANEEL with the title 'Compliance with article 6 of Interministerial Ordinance MME/MF No. 1, of July 4, 2024'”.
MP 1.232 / 2024
Regarding the publication of the minutes of the CER (Reserve Energy Contracts), the ANEEL said that he promptly promoted the distribution of the processes, which also includes the analysis of the possible transfer of corporate control of Amazonas Energia.
About the CER regulation, the 45-day period is not “compatible with the complexity of converting energy sales contracts to reserve energy”, something considered innovative in the regulatory framework.
“Despite the challenges highlighted, the ANEEL has worked to make the conclusion of both processes possible while the MP is still in force, until October 10, 2024.”
Post sharing
About “Post Sharing Policy”, the ANEEL said that he had carried out all the technical and legal instructions. However, with the publication of the decree renewing distribution concessions required new instructions to adapt the proposal.
CCEE Governance
Regarding the approval of the new governance of CCEE (Electric Energy Trading Chamber), the new statute was forwarded by the Chamber on June 5th and the analysis of the process was concluded on August 8th. ANEEL said that “sections were identified in which incompatibility with the normative acts that gave rise to the statutory modification was evident and, therefore, were not approved".
According to the Agency, despite the efforts made, the deadline provided for in Decree No. 11.835/2023 “was, if not impossible, extremely challenging, given, as previously stated, the time required for regulation and the Agencies Law”
After this long argument, the ANEEL concludes the document by saying that the criticisms directed by the MME do not match the effective work carried out by the Agency and reinforces the importance of maintaining the autonomy of the regulatory body.
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