Electric sector: which way to go?

Twelve organizations, including iCS and ten of its grantees, have signed a position/statement on transparency, efficiency and socio-environmental justice against COVID-19. In the document, they report that the economic crisis caused by the pandemic in the electric sector will be paid for by large and small consumers. The type of reaction from the federal government, the National Congress and the National Agency for Electric Energy (ANEEL) to the crisis may lay the foundations for a resilient and sustainable electric sector, but it could also lead to the opposite path: deepening the structural problems even more. For the first option to become a reality, the institutions recommend:

1. Providing total transparency to the amount and the sources of funds to be allocated to assist distributors

2. Reassessing the subsidies and charges applied to the sector

3. Prioritizing the implementation of a plan to decommission excess fossil capacity

4. Restructuring the energy efficiency programs (EEP), research and development (R&D) and PROCEL, guiding them in favor of the socioeconomic recovery through energy and productive optimization

5. Accelerating the modernization of the electric sector, with the Senate Bill 232/2016 as the first step

6. Leveraging the commitment of the electric sector with the low carbon economy and social and environmental justice

Organizations that have signed the document:

National Association for Energy Consumers (Anace)

Brazilian Council for Sustainable Construction (CBCS)

ClimaInfo

Institute for Climate and Society (iCS)

E+ Energy Transition

Greenpeace

Brazilian Institute for Consumer Defense (IDEC)

International Energy Initiative (IEI Brasil)

Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEMA)