Chamber approves energy MP without new charges for distributed generation

This Thursday, the Chamber of Deputies approved provisional measure 1,304, which deals with issues in the electricity and gas sectors, with proposals that benefit the contracting of coal and biomass thermoelectric plants and without the creation of a new charge for solar distributed generation.

Deputies approved the MP’s basic text in a symbolic vote, hours after the report was approved by a joint committee. Some points considered more controversial were highlighted and voted on separately.

In the plenary vote, the provision that created a charge of R$20.00 per 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) on new distributed energy generation projects, a modality that encompasses small systems, generally from solar sources, installed on roofs, facades and land, was removed from the text.

The charge had been designed to slow down the growth of the distributed generation market in Brazil, as the proliferation of millions of generation systems not controllable by the National Electric System Operator (ONS) has led to risks in the energy supply and blackouts. The measure, however, ended up being overturned.

A highlight that attempted to reverse the change in the calculation of the reference price of oil, an essential parameter for calculating royalties and special participations owed by oil companies to the Union, States and municipalities, was also rejected in the plenary.

According to the text approved by the joint committee and which was maintained, the calculation of royalties will now be done “considering the market value of oil, natural gas or condensate, defined as the average of quotations published by internationally recognized price information agencies that report final prices of transactions between independent parties”.

The definition came after a protest from the oil industry, which asked that the model continue to be defined by technical criteria.

COAL

Published by the federal government in July, MP 1,304 needs to be approved by the plenary sessions of the Chamber and Senate by November 7th to avoid losing validity.

Originally, the measure aimed to create a ceiling for billion-dollar charges charged to consumers on their electricity bills. But the text received several addenda from parliamentarians, who decided to discuss in MP 1,304 a series of topics that remained pending after the dehydration of another provisional government measure, which extended free electricity bills for low-income families.

In addition to the ceiling for the charge for the Energy Development Account (CDE), the text approved by the Chamber advances with the opening of the free energy market, new rules for reimbursement of generation cuts by the ONS and energy storage.

It also includes a proposal from parliamentarians to extend the operation of coal-fired thermoelectric plants in the South region, which use national fuel. The measure benefits the Candiota (RS) plant, owned by the J&F holding, whose regulated contract had expired at the end of last year.

The obligation to contract gas thermal plants, which had also been included in the text of the MP by parliamentarians, was overturned after an agreement with the government, which guaranteed unobstructed voting.

Government leader in Congress, senator Randolfe Rodrigues (PT-AP) said earlier that the crucial thing for the government was to guarantee the elimination of the contracting of gas plants in the text of the MP.

According to him, the benefits for coal thermoelectric plants, with extension of contracting until 2040, relate to “a demand from parliamentarians from the South and have zero impact on consumer tariffs”.

“The entire agreement signed here… resolves the government’s major controversy, which is gas thermal plants, which are indeed polluting and would be a contradiction for Brazil, in relation to COP30”, added the government leader.