ANEEL Warning about the risk of concentration with the opening of the free market.

The Director-General of ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency), Sandoval Feitosa, warned of the risk of economic concentration with the opening of the free energy market to low-voltage consumers.

Starting in November 2027, commercial and industrial establishments in this group will be able to choose from whom to purchase energy. For residential consumers, this option is scheduled to open in November 2028.

“We cannot go from a monopoly to private concentration,” said Feitosa during CNN Talks Energia, held on Thursday (24), in São Paulo. According to him, Aneel will have to monitor possible abuses of economic power as new consumers enter the free market.

One of the discussions within the agency involves the relationship between distributors and trading companies within the same economic group. Aneel's technical area proposed restrictions on the sharing of brands, employees, and infrastructure to prevent trading companies linked to distributors from gaining an advantage over competitors in the race for new customers.

However, CADE (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) partially disagreed with the proposal. According to the agency, measures such as prohibiting the use of the distributor's brand need to be evaluated in light of the principle of proportionality. Meanwhile, the Federal Prosecutor's Office at ANEEL (National Agency of Electric Energy) concluded that the agency has the authority to establish restrictions on the activities of distributors in the energy market.

Feitosa also requested resources for a national consumer awareness campaign. According to him, communicating about the opening of the market could cost between R$ 60 million and R$ 70 million per year. The director compared this estimate with Aneel's budget of R$ 180 million and stated that the agency's new responsibilities need to be accompanied by new resources.

At the same event, the Director of Market Security at CCEE (Chamber of Electric Energy Commercialization), Eduardo Rossi, commented on the financial problems faced by energy trading companies. Cases of default and requests for judicial reorganization have raised doubts about how to protect consumers before the opening to low voltage.

"Some problems are happening now, and it's positive that they're happening at this stage, not when we're open to low voltage," Rossi stated.

According to the executive, the financial impacts of these cases have been absorbed by the market itself. He also said that affected consumers have found alternatives to avoid being left without service.

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