Keeping an eye on the challenges of the process of opening the free energy market for small and medium-sized Brazilian companies in January 2024, the CCEE (Electric Energy Trading Chamber) promoted, this Thursday (05), a meeting with agents, sector entities and sector authorities to discuss improvements that can facilitate the entry of new consumers.
Considering that the current ACL (Free Contracting Environment) model was designed for wholesale, CCEE defends a structural redesign to ensure more security in commercial relationships, both from an operational and financial point of view, and support a growing demand from consumers of smaller size, which could more than triple next year.
Alexandre Ramos, president of CCEE, opened the event by analyzing the current situation in the Brazilian electricity sector, commenting on the importance of dialogue to ensure a predictable, continuous and sustainable opening, highlighting the organization's initiatives to simplify market operations.
Also participating in the opening were Efrain Cruz, executive secretary of the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy), Ricardo Tili, director of ANEEL, and Otávio Vaz, energy market regulation manager at ANEEL.
Main points of the meeting
The debate was conducted taking into account the proposals presented by ANEEL in Public Consultation 28/2023, resulting from Ordinance 50, of the MME, which will extend the free market next year to all consumers connected to high voltage, regardless of the load volume.
In the first panel, CCEE, ABRACEEL (Brazilian Association of Energy Traders), ANACE (National Association of Energy Consumers) and Comerc Energia discussed changes in the regulation of the class of retail traders, with the aim of improving the experience of new consumers, ensure transparency of information and avoid systemic risks in cases of default.
In the second panel, CCEE gave space to ABRADEE (Brazilian Association of Electric Energy Distributors) and Engie to debate issues about digital transformation, energy efficiency and some initiatives related to the modernization of current registration, measurement and data aggregation systems, to make the operation more agile and attractive, reducing bureaucracy and costs for the consumer.
CCEE representatives commented on future simplifications in the process, such as allowing the current measurement of the captive to be the same as that used to account for consumers in the free market, without the need for adaptation.
In the last panel, the Chamber detailed to the public actions that are already being put into practice while the market discusses the transition from the current structural model of the free environment to the processes considered more appropriate.
On the occasion, the entity highlighted the creation of a working group to coordinate the next stages of opening and find alternatives that avoid situations such as missed deadlines and lack of documents, which can delay migration.
Opening of the free market
In ACL, the consumer can choose their own energy supplier and negotiate specific deadlines, sources and conditions. This freedom of choice, which can be converted into a cheaper supply, has been the main growth factor in the segment, which today has more than 36 thousand consumption points and represents almost 40% of the total electricity demand in Brazil.
At the highest rate of migration in the entire history of the market, between January and September this year, more than 5,6 consumer units made the portability. In just eight months, the volume of new entrants has already exceeded that recorded last year, according to a recent survey by CCEE.
For now, this sector is restricted to large consumers, but from January 2024, small and medium-sized companies will also be free to access it. A CCEE study estimates a potential of 72 thousand new consumer units with this planned change.
