Aneel has rejected Equipatorial Piauí‘s request for the early release of BRL 274.5 million from the UBP, maintaining the official schedule tied to the December tariff adjustment.
The National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) has determined that the official schedule for transferring financial resources to Equipatorial Piauí must be maintained. The board of the regulatory agency rejected the concessionaire’s request to obtain BRL 274.5 million in advance, an amount originating from the renegotiation of installments related to the Use of Public Property (UBP).
The precautionary measure filed by the distributor sought to force the immediate transfer of capital through the Electric Energy Commercialization Chamber (CCEE), even before the conclusion of the company’s tariff adjustment, scheduled for December 2. However, the rapporteur of the proceeding, Director Ludimila Lima, concluded that the transfer methodology follows pre-established rules set by the board and that the company missed the deadline to administratively challenge the current format.
Financial impact and calculation divergence
During the proceedings, the concessionaire argued that retaining the funds in the Energy Development Account (CDE) would generate losses estimated at BRL 8.66 million for consumers in Piauí. According to the company, the delay could result in an average tariff variation of 0.24% between September and December due to differences in financial yields.
In contrast, the regulatory agency’s technical staff presented divergent scenarios and emphasized that releasing the funds outside the standard deadline would compromise the systemic balance among all benefited companies.
Maintaining the schedule tied to the tariff process is essential to ensure neutrality and prevent distortions in the distribution of financial benefits among concessionaires.
Next steps and final approval
Despite the setback in its attempt to advance the funds, Aneel‘s decision does not nullify the distributor’s right to the amount. The full transfer of resources will occur simultaneously with the approval of the tariff process, following the same procedure already adopted for other companies in the electric power sector, such as Equipatorial Pará and Energisa Paraíba.
The final amount, however, remains subject to variations. The Superintendency of Tariff Management and Economic Regulation (STR) pointed out that the current figure is preliminary and depends on the calculation of the Final Balanced Limit Tariff Effect (ETLEF), as well as potential impacts from an Extraordinary Tariff Review (RTE) still awaiting deliberation by the agency’s board.
