Lula’s minister will ask for a veto of the Minha Casa amendment that would cost R$ 1 billion

Minister Alexandre Silveira, of Mines and Energy, said this Thursday (29) that he will ask President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to veto an amendment placed by the National Congress in the provisional measure of Minha Casa Minha Vida that could have an impact of R$ 1 billion in the Brazilian electricity bill.

The “jabuti” provides that beneficiaries of the program who have solar panels installed in their homes will have a 50% discount on the minimum amount they need to pay to keep a solar panel connected to the grid, using public infrastructure as a kind of “battery”. The cost of this measure, according to the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), will be R$ 429.54 million per year.

Another amendment also establishes that energy distributors must buy the surplus generated in homes, impacting an additional R$ 663.24 million per year due to acquisition costs (R$ 601.51 megawatt-hour) and sale costs ( BRL 69.04/MWh).

“There is a great asymmetry in the electricity sector. Several factors, including the opening of the market – not that I am against it – happened in an unbalanced way, causing a very large tariff impact on the regular consumer”, said the minister in an interview with CNN Brasil.

Silveira also stated that it is necessary to correct asymmetries, not increase them. “We have to be very careful so that we face the problems created so far”, he highlighted.

The provisional measure also waives the bidding process for public bodies to acquire excess energy from housing programs, which, says Aneel, can be understood as a benefit to a specific type of producer to the detriment of hundreds of other plants that generate and market energy on the free market in a competitive manner.

The deadline for presidential sanction, with possible vetoes, is July 17.