The growth of the free energy market has come up against difficulties faced by consumers with distributors. This is what a mapping made by hug (Brazilian Association of Electric Energy Traders).
The institution created a communication channel to receive reports of specific cases in which consumers had difficulty migrating to the free energy market. In 30 days, the channel received 148 cases from 20 different companies.
According to Abraceel, this sample represents only a small fraction of the difficulties found, as complaints can only be made with the consent of consumers and many of them do not want to disagree with the distributors.
Of the total cases, 79% were originated this year, 72% have not yet been concluded and 90% face difficulties in stages within the distributors' competence. The reported cases are distributed throughout Brazil, with a concentration in São Paulo, given the greater presence of companies connected to high voltage.
According to the association, the main problems faced involve requirement for documents considered unnecessary (27%), non-compliance with deadlines by the distributor (19%), difficulty communicating with the distributor (15%), lack of information on energy supply contracts in the regulated market (8%), measurement adjustments (8%), distributor failures (6%), opening a specific current (6%), abuse of economic power (4%), among others.
Second Rodrigo Ferreira, president of Abraceel, the channel's objective is to identify bottlenecks and propose solutions that make it possible to facilitate the migration process for consumers, especially in a context in which all high voltage companies will be able to opt for the free market from 2024.
“Migrations tend to grow rapidly and we have to create consumer-friendly processes,” he said. “By systematizing and creating indicators, we realized that seven out of ten problems are related to unnecessary requirements, failure to meet deadlines, difficulty in communication and adequacy of measurement, which shows us a way to optimize solutions”, stated the executive.
A ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) recommends that any obstacles encountered should first be reported to the distributors, then to the distributor's ombudsman and then, if the lack of a solution persists, to the regulatory agency's ombudsman, in order to allow the public body to work on monitoring and finding solutions.
Abraceel informs that the channel Speak Here! continues to operate permanently.
