Chamber approves Provisional Measure 1.300 without provisions that threatened distributed generation

With the collaboration of Caique Amorim

The Chamber of Deputies approved, this Wednesday (17), Provisional Measure 1.300, which promotes adjustments to the model of the Brazilian electricity sector. The vote registered 352 votes in favor and 93 against.

The final text was approved by the deputies based on an amalgamated amendment presented by party leaders, which replaced the original version by removing sections of the report prepared by the Joint Committee.

Therefore, the approved proposal preserves only the provisions referring to the expansion of the Social Tariff, the renegotiation of the UBP (Use of Public Property, a charge paid by hydroelectric plants), the redistribution of costs of the Angra 1 and 2 plants and the definition of specific times for incentivized irrigation.

The initial version of the report included articles that could transfer to ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) the authority to establish new tariff modalities — such as multipart, prepayment and differentiation by time — opening space for separate charging of the “wire” (cost of the distribution network) even for consumers who generate their own energy.

These points were removed during the process, after strong popular mobilization, from sector associations and intense negotiations in the Legislature.

According to industry associations, the change would create legal uncertainty and the risk of unexpected burdens for small generators and consumers who generate their own energy.

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"After a great deal of negotiation, we managed to remove from the text everything that could in any way affect distributed generation," celebrated federal deputy Lafayette de Andrada (Republicanos/MG) on social media, in a video in which he appears alongside federal deputy Pedro Uczai (PT/SC), Héber Galarce, from INEL, and Hewerton Martins, from the Associação Movimento Solar Livre.

"The mobilization of the sector was fundamental to achieving today's result, through a unified text, a new text that didn't even fit in with more highlights. The interest of organized civil society, of all installers, distributors, and manufacturers, mobilized their social networks, contacting parliamentarians who understood the gravity of what was happening, which essentially meant the closure of the solar sector, since it no longer made sense for people. It's interesting to note that left, right, and center have a positive view of distributed generation. We are in an age of technology, and consumers want to participate actively in the energy transition, which is fairer," said Hewerton Martins, leader of the Associação Movimento Solar Livre.

"Our work in the chamber is legitimate for the distributed generation sector, primarily focused on small residential consumers, small businesses, bakeries, butchers, small farmers, and, of course, integrators, who bring this opportunity to small businesses to put their own energy on their roofs. These are the ones we legitimately represent, and everything was done through a coalition of 21 state groups across Brazil," he added.

For Carlos Evangelista, president of ABGD (Brazilian Association of Distributed Generation), Provisional Measure 1.300 brings positive benefits to the electricity sector in terms of modernization. However, if the tariff partitioning provision were maintained, it could be dangerous for distributed generation, jeopardizing the return on investments already made.

"The leaders' agreement on the removal of the articles was fulfilled, along with the rapporteur of Provisional Measure 1300, Representative Fernando Bezerra Coelho Filho. Therefore, both paragraph 3 of Article 9 and paragraph 10 were removed from the original text. Therefore, the risks have been eliminated. Provisional Measure 1300 moves forward without any risk to the GD," he celebrated.

Bárbara Rubim, vice-president of the Board of Directors of ABSOLAR (Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy), stated that the distributed generation sector is pleased to see that, in fact, the Chamber of Deputies looked at the issue of real interest to the population and the need to protect consumers who decided to generate their own energy and install their own generation systems.

"Removing this tariff discussion from the text of Provisional Measure 1300 gives it a breather for the sector and also allows the matter to be better discussed within MP 1304, with more space for public participation and a debate that truly involves those who will be impacted, which is the end consumer."

INEL (National Institute of Clean Energy) was another entity that, through its president, Héber Galarce, worked with the Joint Committee that debated MP 1300 so that distributed generation would not suffer restrictions, thus continuing as one of the key elements in the diversification of the Brazilian electricity matrix.

According to Andrada, the rapporteur of the PM 1300, understood and was touched by the appeals and he himself removed everything that could affect the GD. This debate, he emphasized, will be left for Provisional Measure 1304.

Federal deputy Pedro Uczai (PT-SC), in turn, congratulated the entire sector, which mobilized to exclude sections that had no direct relation to the Social Tariff.

"This victory needs to be consolidated and consummated in Provisional Measures 1304, 1303, and 1307. In other words, this issue must not be allowed to return to the National Congress' agenda so that we have legal certainty," he noted, referring to the items that could hinder the expansion of GD.

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