The Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) unanimously decided that a law from Pará state prohibiting the charging of reconnection fees for essential services does not apply to the electricity sector.
In practice, this means that energy distributors can continue charging for reconnection of service after disconnection due to non-payment. The decision was made in the judgment of... ADI 7793, closed last Wednesday (8).
A State law 10.823/2024 The proposal stipulated that the service of reconnecting electricity should be free to the public, and also established fines for companies (distributors) that failed to comply with the rule. The proposal sought to prevent the charging of fees when the supply was restored to the consumer.
However, in the lawsuit filed with the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Abradee (Brazilian Association of Electric Energy Distributors) argued that the regulation encroached upon the Union's authority to legislate on energy and interfered with service concession contracts.
Why did the Supreme Court overturn the rule?
According to the case's rapporteur, Minister Nunes Marques, the Constitution establishes that only the Federal Government can legislate on electricity. In other words, the states do not have the authority to define rules on tariffs and charges in the sector. Another point highlighted in the judgment was the economic impact of the measure.
The Supreme Federal Court (STF) understood that the rule directly interferes with the concession contracts signed between the Federal Government and the distributors, which could generate economic and financial imbalance for the concessionaires.
What changes for the consumer?
In practice, nothing changes. Charging for power reconnection remains permitted, following the rules defined by... ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency). It is important to highlight that this rate is related to cases of disconnection due to non-payment and not to interruptions in supply due to system failures, such as blackouts.
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