EN 
PT_BR 
On August 11, 2020, ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) sent a letter responding to a consultation on the subject of adherence to the compensation system for Group A consumers opting for billing in Group B, in cases of DG (distributed generation). Since then, according to ABGD (Brazilian Association of Distributed Generation), the document has been the subject of several distorted interpretations throughout the sector in Brazil.
In this context, this and other letters issued by ANEEL are being used by several energy distribution concessionaires to limit and/or deny, in general, the access of consumers with DG in their consumer unit, in cases of accessers served at medium voltage (Group A) and have opted for the benefit of having their billing through Group B.
However, according to lawyer Frederico Boschin, a specialist in electricity sector regulation, the document deserves disapproval. “CPFL insists on normative or regulatory force – and that there is no such office, let it be said. This situation has become widespread and widely used by other concessionaires to justify failures, demands, delays and all sorts of arbitrary acts within the scope of GD”.
Boschin commented that the situation creates legal and regulatory uncertainty in the already tumultuous sector and intensifies the atmosphere between consumers and dealerships, in general. “Since ANEEL letters do not have a normative character and the agency could not regulate a matter as important as this via letter. In other words, if the understanding is that the rule is flawed, what should be changed is the resolution itself and not the presentation of understandings through official letters or even technical notes”, he explained.
“The market needs to have the certainty, or the appropriate regulatory signal, that the agency will be guided in an isonomic and appropriate manner when issuing a resolution on the aforementioned subject”, added the lawyer.
In what cases is B Optante valid?
Article 100 of RN 414/2010 establishes the technical criteria for a medium voltage accessor (Group A) to opt for the benefit of having their billing done as a Group B accessor.
This is the consumer's prerogative to choose the economic advantage that suits them, as long as the requirements defined in the rule are respected, for example, the sum of the transformers' nominal powers is equal to or less than 112.5 kVA.
"What does that mean? The consumer who accesses a distribution system, when he implements the conditions set out in Article 100, is given the option of being billed in Group B. This is not just a tariff and price issue. The relationship established concerns the very structure of the tariff that he will compose with the distributor, that is, Monômia or Binomial.”, said the specialist.
“In other words, in Group B, to date, the tariff structure is Monômia. So, in practice, this consumer is not required to contract demand (including by applying the provisions of §8 of Article 63, of Normative Resolution No. 414/2010: contracting demand does not apply to group A consumer units that opt to apply group B tariffs)”, he reported.
This directly implies, according to him, the greater profitability and attractiveness of the DG system. “In Group A pricing, the tariff structure is different, with the need to contract demand, that is, for the concessionaire there is an extra remuneration”.
Frederico Boschin explained that the majority of consumers with distributed generation installations then make connections of up to 112.5 kVA and request group B billing, because it is allowed by the REN 414 rule.
“When I am given the option of being billed by Group B, instead of Group A, I become a consumer of Group B, for all intents and purposes, regardless of whether there is (or not) DG in the consumer unit”, he stated.
“If I, within another ANEEL regulation, which is REN 414, can choose to be A or B because I meet the requirements, the concessionaire cannot choose which benefit it will grant me. You cannot simply decide based on, strictly, no regulatory basis to insist that a microgenerator must pay the cost of availability and a minigenerator the power demand, because that is not what is said in the regulations”, pointed out the lawyer.
The expert also adds that the REN 482 rule itself (Normative Resolution 482/2012), for example, does not say that a microgenerator must pay for availability and a minigenerator for demand. “Literally, what it says is that consumers in Group A receive demand and consumers in Group B pay for availability. Therefore, the interpretation made by the concessionaires goes against the very literalness of the rule”.
In fact, according to him, this has generated many other problems, as ANEEL's technical notes say that this is not the spirit of the rule. “It doesn’t matter. Regardless of what any kind of interpretation given by the alleged spirit of the rule means, its literalness must, absolutely, prevail, and points precisely in the other direction”, he highlighted.
“In other words, the consumer's option to be billed in Group B must be respected and fulfilled, and for all intents and purposes it is Group B, considering advantages that specifically relate to being able to do DG up to the limit of 112.5 kVA without paying demand”, he concluded.
Marina Meyer, legal director of ABGD (Brazilian Association of Distributed Generation), also emphasized that a mini-generator that falls within any of the provisions of article 100 cannot be charged for contracted demand and must pay only for the cost of availability
“Those opting for Group A in distributed generation will pay for contracted demand (use of the wire that GD calls MUSd – amount of use of the distribution system) and prosumers opting for Group B contracts pay for the cost of availability”, concluded Marina.
Letter to ANEEL
ABGD sent a letter to ANEEL, signed by Carlos Evangelista, president of ABGD, Tássio Barboza, technical advisor at ABahiaSolar (Baiana Solar Energy Association), Marina Meyer and Frederico Boschin – with the observations mentioned above – for the agency to reconsider the letter referring to the compensation system for Group A consumers opting for Group B billing. The document is still under analysis.
