EN 
PT_BR 
According to a survey carried out by Datafolha to the Embraceel (Brazilian Energy Trading Association), 8 out of 10 Brazilians want the right to choose their electricity supplier, having the right to portability of the electricity bill.
The numbers are part of the annual survey “Opinion on the Electricity Sector”, which interviewed 2,088 people in 130 Brazilian municipalities. The margin of error is 2 percentage points.
According to the study, desire continues in high level in all segments of income, education and social class, even among the oldest and least privileged.
The research was released amid the process of opening the electricity market to Brazilian consumers, proposed by the MME in Normative Ordinance No. 50/2022.
Would you like to be able to choose?
Among Brazilians over 60 years old and among those who make up classes D and E of the population, Datafolha reported that 7 in 10 would like to choose the supplier, a high level and little different from other age groups (8 in 10 Brazilians aged between 16 and 59 years old) and income (9 out of 10 in class A/B and 8 out of 10 in class C).
Even among those with a lower level of education (primary education), family income (less than the minimum wage) and occupation (Brazilians outside the economically active population), 7 out of 10 Brazilians want the right to change electricity suppliers.
“We make choices every day, which is independent of social class and income. With electrical energy, the path is also to be able to make choices. We will have a strong e-commerce for this, but we will also have physical stores with attendants and support for choosing products”, said Rodrigo Ferreira, executive president of Abraceel.
Everyone has a cell phone today and to do so they have chosen between different providers and packages available. In energy it will be like this. In fact, it is already like this in more than 36 countries”, he highlighted.
What will happen to the price?
If electricity bill portability could be implemented in Brazil, the expectation is to obtain lower prices. More than half of Brazilians (54%) believe that the cost of electricity tends to decrease – the rest believe that the value will not change (22%) or will increase (20%). 4% did not give an opinion.
The expectation of obtaining more advantageous prices spreads regardless of income, education and social class. Among those who are over 60 years old, have studied primary education, belong to classes D/E, earn up to a minimum wage and do not belong to the economically active population, 5 out of every 10 Brazilians expect the price to decrease with the possibility of exchanging the supplier company.
If the possibility of choosing an electricity supplier were widely and universally implemented in Brazil, 7 out of 10 Brazilians would exercise the right and change companies, motivated by price (63%), search for renewable sources (20%) or quality in the service (16%).
Evaluating the data in a stratified manner, Abraceel stated that more than half of older and less privileged Brazilians would opt for new supplier companies, even if to a lesser extent than younger and richer ones.
Responsibility
The survey also asked respondents about their responsibility for the price of electricity. For 69% of Brazilians, federal deputies and senators are the main culprits for the rise in electricity costs in recent years.
Family management
According to Abraceel, the rise in electricity tariffs in recent years has caused havoc in the management of Brazilians' family budgets, with a reduction in consumption related to well-being.
Among those interviewed, 85% started saving electricity in the last 12 months to reduce the value of their electricity bill, 72% stopped buying items they consumed to pay their electricity bill and 44% stopped paying any electricity bills in the last year.
Furthermore, the study showed that two out of three Brazilians would like to be able to purchase electricity from different suppliers by the end of this government. This desire is even greater when the deadline for having freedom of choice extends to the next government. In this case, 73% of Brazilians would like to be able to buy electricity from several different suppliers.
