Interruption of the Ombudsman's Office service, drastic reduction in on-site inspections and limitation of the headquarters' operation, which will now operate from 8 am to 14 pm. These are the measures adopted by ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) after the 25% contingency in its budget for 2025, determined by Decree No. 12.477/2025.
The list of restrictions also includes the suspension of public hearings and in-person events, in addition to prioritizing remote monitoring of sector agents, limiting team movements and cutting administrative expenses, such as technical travel, operational contracts and non-emergency maintenance.
The measures were made official in a letter sent to the Ministry of Planning and Budget, in which the Agency requests a review of the contingency and details the operational impacts. The Agency's budget ANEEL was reduced to R$117 million, the same level recorded in 2016, according to official data from the Agency.
Expansion scenario contrasts with cut
The decision comes in a scenario of significant growth in the Brazilian electricity sector, which requires greater operational and regulatory capacity from ANEEL. Between 2016 and 2025, according to agency data:
- The country's installed capacity grew by 42%, rising from 150,1 GW to 211,9 GW;
- A GD (distributed generation) increased by 102.209%, from 39,2 MW to 40,1 GW;
- The length of transmission lines increased by 42%, from 124,4 thousand km to 176,8 thousand km;
- The number of consumers benefiting from Social Rate grew 77%, from 9,7 million to 17,2 million.
Despite the increased complexity of the sector, the Agency reported that the number of effective employees of the ANEEL fell from 617 in 2016 to 552 in 2025, while regulatory responsibilities and the number of processes increased significantly.
At the same time, the collection of TFSEE (Electric Energy Services Inspection Fee) — a resource paid directly by consumers in their energy bills — grew 168% in the period, rising from R$165,4 million to R$442,6 million.
Impacted activities
With the budget restriction, the agency reported that the following activities will be directly impacted:
- On-site technical inspection of distributors, transmitters and generation agents;
- Operation of the Ombudsman's Office, a channel used to mediate complaints, reports and mediate conflicts with consumers and agents in the sector;
- Holding in-person public hearings and institutional events, essential for discussing tariff proposals, regulatory changes and auctions;
- Monitoring of projects associated with the expansion of generation, transmission, electric mobility e energy storage;
- Monitoring of regulatory processes related to the opening of the free energy market, distributor concessions, sector modernization and energy transition;
- Working on emerging issues, such as the impacts of extreme weather events, operation of networks with high penetration of renewable sources and management of the growing expansion of distributed generation.
Prioritization of demands
A ANEEL reported that it will prioritize activities considered critical and with greater regulatory or operational risk. In-person inspections will be limited and concentrated on cases of greater impact, while remote monitoring will be adopted on an expanded basis.
The Agency also determined the suspension of hiring of non-essential services, face-to-face training, external training and institutional events, in addition to travel restrictions and technical inspections.
Request for recomposition
In the letter sent to the Ministry of Planning and Budget, the ANEEL requests a review of the contingency, with the justification that the current budget does not keep up with the growth of the electricity sector nor the demands associated with its regulation.
The Agency highlights that, if there is no replenishment of resources, the restrictions will remain throughout the year, with impacts on inspection, customer service, conflict mediation and monitoring of projects related to the expansion of the electricity matrix, the free market and the energy transition.
See the information released by the Agency on its social network.
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