Issuance of new grants requested by March 02, 2022, and TUST/TUSD discounts: deadline for submitting statement ends on June 03, 2024

On May 24, 2024, the National Electric Energy Agency (“ANEEL”) published Order No. 1,581/2024, which approves the procedure for issuing new authorization grants requested by March 02, 2022, and receipt of the discounts on the Tariffs for the Use of Transmission and Distribution Systems (“TUST/TUSD”).

This measure was adopted as a result of the provisions of the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (“TCU”) in Judgment No. 2353/2023, which analyzed the potential circumvention of the limits on power injected by generation projects provided for in paragraph 1-A, of art. 26 of Law No. 9,427, of 1996, through project fractioning.

In Judgment No. 2353/2023, the TCU determined that ANEEL refrain from granting new TUST/TUSD discounts to pending approval projects and draft an action plan to improve the regulation, in order to clarify that only projects of up to 300 MW of injected power are entitled to the discount under discussion.

According to information provided by ANEEL – established in Technical Note (“NT”) No. 499/2024-SCE/SGM/SFT/ANEEL –, 336 grant requests are being processed by the agency under Law No. 14,120/2021, that is, presented by March 02, 2022. Regarding these projects, ANEEL proposed that agents choose to:

1. Continue with the grant procedure without any discount until ANEEL publishes a regulation on the subject. To this end, agents will have to enter into a Statement for Continuing Authorization (“TDPA”); or
2. Suspend the grant procedure until a regulation is published, in which occasion the Statement for Suspension of Authorization (“TDSA”) must be signed.

In both cases, the agent must request the tariff discount before ANEEL only after the regulation is published.

Agents must submit either the TDPA or the TDSA by June 03, 2024, otherwise the grant request will be rejected.

Through NT No. 499/2024, ANEEL warns agents who choose the second option, mentioned above, about the potential risk of losing the opportunity to express interest in extending the power plant’s implementation deadline, as provided for in Provisional Measure (“MP”) No. 1,212/2024, given that, in this process, the agent must express interest in extending the plant’s implementation deadline by June 10, 2024, provide a performance bond by July 2024, and start the construction works within 18 months from the date of issuance of the grant.

Access the order in full.

Access Technical Note No. 499/2024 and draft terms of the statement in full.