Light: Governor says company needs to modernize – 01/06/2023 – Market

The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, defended this Thursday (1st) that the energy distributor Light has not been making an effort to reduce losses from theft of energy in the state, identified as the main reason for its financial crisis.

The company filed for bankruptcy and has been saying that it cannot charge for all the energy it distributes due to public safety problems in the state, which has several areas dominated by organized crime.

“Light also needs to move to increase revenue”, said Castro, citing as an example the sanitation companies that took over services in the state after the privatization of Cedae (Companhia Estadual de Água e Esgoto).

These companies, he says, modernized the distribution network and managed to reduce losses and capture new customers. And he pointed out that there are opportunities to improve revenue in areas other than those facing security issues.

“It’s no use, if you have a problem, to cry instead of solving it”, added the governor, acknowledging, however, that the state has a role to play in confronting organized crime. “It’s a shared problem.”

Light filed for judicial recovery claiming that it is unable to deal with its debt and maintain service in its concession area at the same time. The company tries to force an early renewal of the concession to renegotiate debts.

It has until the beginning of next week to present the request for renewal, but has not yet done so, informed the general director of Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency), Sandoval Feitosa.

He agreed with the governor’s criticisms, saying that Aneel revised the company’s tariff calculation parameters in 2022, within the tariff review process, according to him, rebalancing the company’s accounts.

Feitosa says that Light remains in compliance with its commitments to the electricity sector and, therefore, an intervention is not feasible at this time. A company action plan is being evaluated by the agency’s inspection area and, if there are inconsistencies, the scenario may change.