Brasília, November 21, 2002 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The executive secretary of the National Program for Conservation of Electricity (Procel), Saulo Cisneiros, reports that the success of the program depends on consumer education. He cited what happened when electricity was rationed in 2001: everybody complained but wound up changing their habits in order to consume less. Cisneiros also pointed out that conservation increases productivity and competitivity.

Cisneiros announced that over the 17 years Procel has existed, almost R$11 billion (US$3.1 billion) has been economized because of conservation programs (the money would be spent on power plants and transmission lines), besides reducing losses of operators: keeping them at 10%, rather than 17%. (AB)