In collaboration with Isabella Agarbella, Leonardo Balbino and Renato Edelstein
A ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency), through the Superintendence of istrative Mediation and Consumer Relations, instituted the TS 018/2023 (Subsidy Grant No. 018/2023), with a period for sending contributions until January 31, 2024, through document exchange.
The purpose of TS 018/2023 is to assess the need for possible specific regulatory commands to:
- Guarantee the provisions of article 28 of Law No. 14.300/2022 – known as the legal framework for distributed micro and minigeneration, which characterizes MMGD as the production of electrical energy for own consumption; It is
- Mitigate the occurrence of energy trading in SCEE (Electric Energy Compensation System) of energy surpluses or credits, in violation of current regulations. That is, the supply of surplus energy at prices lower than the regulated tariffs charged by concessionaires or licensees for the distribution of electricity.
Through TS 018/2023, agents and other interested parties will be able to send contributions by filling out a form, in which interested parties will answer the technical questions of the ANEEL, As: “Which existing situations in the market can be classified as energy sales in the SCEE?” and “What elements could characterize or give evidence of energy commercialization in the SCEE?”, among other questions.
The topic was already under analysis by ANEEL since the 3rd RPO (Ordinary Public Meeting) of the Board of Directors, held on February 7th of this year, which approved the Normative Resolution ANEEL No. 1.059/2023 and defined rules for the connection and billing of distributed generation plants in distribution systems, prohibiting the commercialization, even implicitly, of energy credits and surpluses, as well as obtaining any benefit in the allocation of energy credits and surpluses to other holders.
In the 3rd RPO, the Board also determined that the STD evaluate the need to include regulatory commands to promote the application of the provisions of art. 28 of Law No. 14.300/2022, which led to the preparation of Technical Note No. 101/2023 – STD/ANEEL, of October 17, 2023, the details of which were the subject of TS 018/2023.
The objective, according to the ANEEL, is to prevent the purchase and sale of energy by consumers who are not free or special. This is because failure to comply with regulations or attempts to circumvent legal provisions for personal gain harm the electricity sector as a whole, since the undue capture of tariff subsidies causes losses of great magnitude, at the expense of incentives paid for by s of the energy distribution system – which should not be allowed in the view of the Regulatory Agency.
Even though the scope of TS 018/2023 is to contain the commercialization of electrical energy within the scope of the SCEE, it is highlighted that the legal reservations, provided for in articles 24 and 36-A of Law No. 14.300/2022, will not suffer any interference in our vision.
With this, the scenario of selling surplus energy with the local distributor, through public calls and the scenario of trading surplus electricity with public bodies (as long as the holder is a beneficiary of a social or housing program at the federal level, state, district or municipal) will continue to have the same effects after due regulation and implementation.
It is also worth noting that the analysis carried out by STD, through NT 101/2023, in no way changed the rights of compensation and sharing of electrical energy applicable to consumer units with MMGD in our analysis.
O consumer holding a consumer unit, whether by remote self-consumption or shared generation (in which consortia, cooperatives, voluntary civil condominiums or buildings are formed, or any other form of civil association as long as it is established for this purpose) can continue generating its surplus and energy credit to be used in other consumer units owned by it and served by the same distributor.
Once the project has been implemented in accordance with current legal guidelines, there is no illegality to be assessed by the ANEEL.
In other words, these premises have not undergone any change, given that the Agency does not even have the competence to alter or restrict these rights linked to MMGD holders, due to the provisions expressed in art. 1st, inc. X and Chapter IV, of Law No. 14.300/2022 (and REN No. 1.000/2023).
Even though the market is uncertain about the extent of the effects of TS 018/2023, especially with regard to the compensation of electricity in the electricity bill through MMGD systems, limiting this right of the holders of consumer units is not part of the attribution of the ANEEL and it would be a setback for the expansion of the GD (distributed generation) retail model.
In our view, it is not up to the ANEEL interfere in business models that are being practiced in the distributed generation sector.
As there are no illegalities in such models, it seems to us that the Regulatory Agency, with measures such as the establishment of TS 018/2023, ends up creating legal uncertainty in this sector, which fought so hard for such security to come with the publication of Law No. 14.300/ 2022.
Any structures that go beyond legal guidelines must certainly be prevented and combated, but exceptions must be dealt with and not the general rule that allows the allocation of energy credits in the shared generation model, which is a model provided for in Law and that allows consumers to lease energy credits from plants installed within the distributors' concession area, including the “energy by subscription” format that began to be implemented in Brazil for low voltage consumers (group B) who do not yet have a minimum demand to migrate to the free market.
The distributed generation sector definitely needs legal security and predictability to guarantee the significant investment curve that has been seen in recent times. This movement is natural and should not be blocked or prevented through restrictive regulation.
It is worth ing that, until now, the benefits of distributed generation for the system have not been calculated and/or defined, despite the deadline established in the GD legal framework. This debate is essential and is being left aside once again.
The implementation of TS 018/2023 will be important so that the sector can identify the address given by ANEEL on the subject. What is expected (and trusted) is that TS 018/2023 will not call into question all the achievements of recent years.
The opinions and information expressed are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the author. Canal Solar.
Answers of 3
I don't see it that way. Allowing consumers to lease energy credits within the subscription energy format for low voltage consumers in Group B is a way of circumventing the Normative Resolution. ANEEL No. 1.059/2023. This type of regulation is part of the attribution of the ANEEL and I don't think it's "a setback for the expansion of GD's retail model". Hugs.
A ANEEL Are you also concerned about the amount of excess credits that expire in 60 months, which were left to the distributor? These credits represent the energy that the distributor ed on to its consumers by charging for them, and will not reimburse the DG customer. This could be a large amount due to the total number of DG consumers who do not use all of their credits. Will the tariff review contemplate this in any way to help with the tariff? Ideally, the distributor would buy this credit when the term expires…
Inspection by representative bodies of the solar energy generation system is required, such as ABSOLAR and also the creation of associations of DG generators at municipal and state level together with ABSOLAR that already represent at a national level. In my understanding as an integrator and also a generator, there is a lot to improve both in the solar system and in of disrespect for the dealerships.