Brasília, January 20, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Consumers will still pay another R$ 300 million to energy distributors as a consequence of losses suffered during the period of rationing in 2001. Last Friday (17) the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) altered the period during which the Special Reconstitution Charge (RTE) will remain in effect.

The RTE establishes a 2.9% charge on residential electric bills and 7.9% for industrial and commercial establishments. It has been collected since 2001 so that the distributors can repay the loans they obtained from the National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) during the period of rationing.

Aneel explained that the change occurred for two reasons. The first is the result of a new Wholesale Energy Market (MAE) calculation indicating that the distributors suffered losses greater than what was forecast at the time of rationing. At the time, it was calculated that the companies suffered R$ 2.5 billion in losses, but in June, 2003, the figures showed that the losses amounted to R$ 2.8 billion between June 1, 2001 and February 28, 2002.

The second reason is the exclusion of "Parcel A" charges from the calculation of the RTE. "Parcel A" covers distributors' costs that are not subject to management control, such as exchange rate variations in the dollar and the cost of purchasing energy from Itaipu. According to the regulatory agency's superintendent of Economic Regulation, César Gonçalves, "Parcel A" was removed from the RTE, because these expenses should not be part of the same account as the costs covered by the RTE.

Consumers will only have to pay off "Parcel A" charges after the distributors pay off the RTE. The costs amount to R$ 1.39 billion. The rates are the same as those for the RTE: 2.9% for residential consumers and 7.9% for industrial and commercial consumers.

Aneel still doesn't know when consumers will be charged for the amount that corresponds to "Parcel A." This information should be made available after each distributor has finished paying off the RTE.

According to Aneel, consumers will have to continue paying the RTE for 72 months, on the average. Clients of 11 distributors will have to pay the charge over a longer period, while the period was shortened for 31 companies and maintained for only one. The Bandeirante Energy distributing company was the one for which the RTE payment period was extended the most, from 64 to 73 months. (DAS)