The year of 2023 will be full of opportunities for consumers who want save on energy bill, but it will also be challenging for traders who are preparing to welcome Group A customers.
According to the Electricity Trading Chamber (CCEE), the Difference Settlement Price (PLD), used as a reference to price energy on the free market, is expected to remain at the minimum level (R$ 69,04) throughout 2023 and 2024. This means that the hydrological scenario is positive, which guarantees the supply of cheap energy from hydroelectric plants.
“The year of 2023 will be marked by a year of very low prices and this ends up influencing the long-term price. For consumers to migrate from captive to free, this is a good time, because you can deliver very significant savings. Furthermore, next year it will open to all high voltage consumers. All energy traders are looking for these consumers”, said Bernardo Marangon, partner at Exact Energy.
The Free Contracting Environment (ACL) is where the consumer can freely negotiate the conditions of energy supply, such as price, term and source (conventional or renewable). Today the ACL represents 36% of national consumption, with 30 thousand consumer units.
“Today’s prices are back to 2016 levels, when we had a very good summer with a high migration rate. We are certainly seeing this phenomenon again in 2023”, said José Antônio Sorge, director at Agora Generating and Trading Energy.
From January 2024, all high voltage consumers (group A) will be able to choose to purchase electricity from any supplier on the free market. CCEE estimates a universe of 106 thousand consumer units that fall into this group. If everyone migrated, this would represent a 350% growth in the number of free market consumers.
However, consumers with a load of less than 500 kW will necessarily be represented by a retail supplier. In order not to be left out of this market, companies such as Ágora Energia, Delta Energy e Commerce Energy They are opening their retail unit, strengthening the sales and marketing team and investing in technology.
“It will be a challenging year because we have to expand and adapt processes, which we are already doing, but it will be a good year because low prices encourage consumers to go to the free market”, said Sorge
“We are understanding what this consumer’s profile is, what type of product they will demand, and then designing the processes and systems to serve them,” said Marcelo Ávila, vice president of Comerc Energia. “We have been in this footprint for a year and a half, working internally so that we can offer energy adequately, adjusting products so that they have a digital footprint”, he added.
For Luiz Fernando Leone Vianna, Institutional and Regulatory Vice President of the Delta Energia Group, 2023 will be an intense year of learning for companies that want to captivate this new consumer. “Opening the market to high voltage customers is a preparation for what comes in the future”, he assessed.
“Offering differentiated service, providing quality information and investing in innovation and technology are essential in this phase of market opening. This is a gradual process that will result in the development and strengthening of the sector and, consequently, for the country's economy”, highlights Vianna when exemplifying that, last year, Delta Energia acquired a technology company dedicated to developing products for the market. telecommunications, energy and industry and also became the main partner of a retail company.
Low tension
According to Vianna, the opening of high voltage will also be “training” for when the free market is fully opened, including low voltage consumers. Today, only customers with demand greater than 500 kW can target.
According to the Government's schedule, from January 2026, consumers served in low voltage, with the exception of those in the residential and rural classes, will be able to choose to purchase electricity from any supplier. From January 2028, all consumers will be able to migrate to the free market.
But the opening of low voltage will only be possible after changes in legislation. This authorization to choose the energy supplier can occur in two ways. Within the scope of the federal government, there is a public consultation (137/2022) carried out by the Ministry of Mines and Energy to establish a schedule with deadlines for the complete opening of the market. In the National Congress, there are two bills (PL 414/2021 and PL 1.917/2015) that deal with the topic.
The expectation is that PL 414 will advance in the first half of 2023, said Rodrigo Ferreira, president of the Brazilian Association of Energy Consumers (Abraceel), the main defender of the opening of the free market. “We hope that this agenda can evolve in the first half of this year, motivated by a legislature that can address the main economic reforms.” And he added: “It is a very broad project, which was discussed in the Senate and is already very mature in the Chamber. It could pass quickly if there was the political will to make it happen.”
