Consumer Protection Commission proposes to postpone current GD rules to 2024

The postponement of the entry of the new GD (distributed generation) rules gains a new chapter with the support of the Consumer Protection Commission.

Federal deputy Celso Russomanno (Republicanos/SP), vice-president of the commission, presented PL 2703/2022, which aims to extend the deadline for the new energy compensation rules defined in Law 14.300 – rules that became popularly known as “ taxation of the sun”.

Art. 2 Law No. 14.300, of January 6, 2022, comes into force with the following changes:

“Art. 26. …………………………………………………………………..

II – who file a request for access with the distributor within 24 (twenty-four) months from the date of publication of this Law. ……………………………………………………………… …… 2nd The provisions of this article cease to be applicable when, 24 (twenty-four) months after the date of publication of this Law, the following occurs:

III – in the portion of increase in the installed power of microgeneration or distributed minigeneration whose protocol for the increase request occurs after 24 (twenty-four) months after the date of publication of this Law.

………………………………………………………………….. (NR)”

In an interview with Canal Solar, Russomanno explained that “the text was constructed based on the public hearing held on June 22, 2022, promoted and carried out by the Consumer Defense Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, and that, despite the publication and sanction of the GD Legal Framework, concessionaires and distributors have acted contrary to the objective of Law 14.300/2022”.

The audience discussed the main difficulties faced by consumers when installing solar energy. “We held a public hearing and found that energy distributors, with a few exceptions, are not complying with the law. In view of this, we think it is best to present a PL that extends the deadline for another year for charging fees and charges to consumers who want to install photovoltaic energy”, stated Russomanno.

“The issue is a complaint from consumers across Brazil that electricity distributors are not complying with Law 14.300 because ANEEL has not yet regulated it, as it is its obligation to do”, added the parliamentarian.

The text presented by the deputy determines the amendment of articles 26 and 27 of Law 14.300/2022 so that the new rules will come into effect 24 months after the date of publication of Law 14.300. In other words, consumers who file a request for access with distributors by January 6, 2024 will remain subject to the current rules.

Currently, Law 14.300/2022 provides a period of 12 months from the sanction and therefore the new rules come into effect on January 7, 2023.

If approved, the new rules will come into force from January 2024. Furthermore, with approval the transition period for the application of the new rules will also be changed, also extending to 12 months. According to the deputy, this measure will give breathing room to consumers who still wish to purchase a solar energy system and install it in their homes and businesses.

According to Hewerton Martins, President of the Association of Entrepreneurs and Solar Energy Consumers Movimento Solar Livre, the entity directly contributed to the drafting of PL 2703/2022 in partnership with deputy Russomano.

“The objective is to guarantee the rights of consumers who were harmed in 2022 due to the lack of compliance with law 14.300/2022”, stated Martins.

“Consumers did not have access to any favorable point of the law, however they will be the only ones harmed and forced to comply with the law that penalizes consumers from January 7, 2023. Therefore, another 12 months of extension of the taxation of solar energy to guarantee smoothness and transparency in the process”, he added.

Asked what the next steps should be, Russomanno highlighted that the National Congress has a large group focused on photovoltaic energy, which even helped with the approval of Law 14.300, led by the Republican party.

“We will continue this work together with the guarantee of consumer rights and we will ask for the character of very urgent urgency for the approval of the bill. Furthermore, we will file a request to hold a new public hearing to take an X-ray of what happened after the last hearing to see if the distributors have reviewed their positions”, he concluded.

Martins corroborated the statements made by deputy Russomanno and highlighted that there will be a mobilization of the association with parliamentarians to obtain signatures on the extremely urgent request for voting in 2022.