director of ANEEL said he was misinterpreted when talking about lobbies in the sector

The director of ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency), Hélvio Guerra, said this Wednesday (21) in a hearing at the Chamber of Deputies that his words were taken out of context in the reports, and that when using the word lobby it would not be in a pejorative sense.

Even so, he apologized to the deputies present at the meeting and to the other deputies who felt offended by his words.

Guerra was invited to attend a public hearing held by the Mining and Energy and Financial Oversight and Control committees of the Chamber of Deputies, with the aim of clarifying the speech by the director of ANEEL, who reportedly said that Brazilian deputies are unfamiliar with the electricity sector and that they are being driven by lobbying. Deputy Danilo Forte (União-CE) was one of the requesters for the meeting with Guerra at the Mines and Energy Committee.

The request to hold the hearing was also signed by deputies Arthur Oliveira Maia (União-BA) and Beto Pereira (PSDB-MS). In the Financial Inspection and Control committee, deputy Evair Vieira de Melo (PP-ES) also requested the presence of Hélvio Guerra to explain the executive's statements. Guerra said that at no time did he try to hurt, tarnish or attack the National Congress.

During the hearing, Congressman Danilo Forte still criticized the performance of the ANEEL, claiming that the Agency made some decisions that harmed the renewable energy segment in the Northeast. “The excessive power of regulatory agencies has caused losses for Brazil,” said Forte.

Deputy Joaquim Passarinho (PL-PA) classified the accusation by the director of ANEEL as “frivolous” and “irresponsible”.

Here's Guerra's apology

“In complimenting your excellences, I come to recognize that the parliamentarians are right to have felt offended, upon learning of the words I used during the Sectorial Agenda event held on March 29th in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

My presentation was broadcast on digital media on April 10, removing isolated words from my speech, which actually sound offensive and unjustified.

What I intended to remind the audience, made up mainly of sectoral agents, was that many matters relating to the electricity sector under discussion in legislative houses result from legitimate action, sometimes by associations that represent their members, sometimes by sectoral agents themselves, who defend agendas sometimes disregarding the set of agents and the set of consumers.

Although it is a legitimate action, they end up failing to consider the technical role of ANEEL and when I spoke in this way at that event, I used the word lobbies, but not in a pejorative sense, as may have appeared.

This demonstration was not intended to criticize the National Congress, because I would not have, and do not have, any reason to do so. However, reviewing my presentation, I recognize that some phrases, separated from the context, that were said are offensive and unfair to parliamentarians.

On the other hand, I would like to transcribe the title of another article published on March 29, also in digital media, which made my intention clear: 'Director of ANEEL defends the regulator’s actions and criticizes the sector’s lobbies in Congress.”

In view of this, I humbly ask that you accept my excuses and transmit them to the other parliamentarians in the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate.”