Energy: small businesses lead in the free market – 04/14/2024 – Panel SA

Seven out of ten new entrants to the free energy market are small and medium-sized companies. In this segment, prices are freely negotiated between buyers and sellers.

In total, 5,363 new customers migrated to the free market in the first quarter of this year. In March, of the 1,494 customers, 69% were companies benefiting from the ordinance, which allowed the entry of less energy-intensive companies. The data is CCEE (Electric Energy Trading Chamber).

The sectors that recorded the most migration were commerce, services, manufactured goods, food and non-metallic minerals.

São Paulo leads among the states with new customers (1,734 companies), followed by Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais and Paraná.

According to the CCEE report, the volume of new customers already represents 72% of the total number of companies that migrated in 2023 and already exceeds the data for 2022.

“More than 18 thousand consumers have already informed the National Electric Energy Agency about their desire to migrate to the free market throughout the year 2024. There are also already 560 requests to terminate contracts with the distributor for 2025”, said the CCEE in note.

This movement occurs due to a 2022 Jair Bolsonaro government ordinance that came into force in January this year.

Previously, only high and medium voltage companies could contract energy directly, with an electricity bill above R$140,000 and consumption exceeding 500 kilowatts. With the ordinance, companies with an electricity bill above R$9,000 and demand for less than 500 kilowatts can enter.

General consumption

In the first quarter, energy consumption in the ACL (free contracting environment) was an average of 26 thousand MW (megawatts), around 7.6% higher than that recorded in the same period in 2023.

In the first quarter, the sectors that consumed the most energy were metal and metal production, with 5,959 MW, followed by the food industry (2,880 MW), services (2,370 MW), chemicals (2,268 MW), non-metallic minerals and various manufactured goods .

According to the CCEE, the ACL represented 37.1% of the energy consumption recorded by the SIN (National Interconnected System) in the first quarter.

With Diego Felix

LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access five free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.