Âmbar Energia, controlled by the J&F holding, signed the agreement to take control of the distributor Amazonas Energia, on the last day of validity of the provisional measure that made the operation viable.
The information was confirmed by the company and the regulatory agency Aneel this Friday morning.
In Âmbar’s proposal, there would be an immediate capital contribution to the Amazonian concessionaire, in order to reduce the debt that currently exceeds R$10 billion.
The costs that electricity consumers will have to bear with the flexibility of the concession’s regulatory parameters, in order to contribute to the distributor’s recovery, are now calculated at R$14 billion over 15 years.
The amount is lower than the R$15.8 billion initially proposed by Âmbar, but is still above the R$8 billion calculated as sufficient by Aneel technicians.
READ MORE: With “unpayable” debt and the biggest energy theft in the country, Amazonas Energia opens the game
Another improvement made by Âmbar is the sharing of efficiency gains in the concession with energy consumers, which would now start from the company’s 6th year as controller, and no longer from the 11th year.
In a statement, Âmbar stated that the plan presented is the “most viable path” to avoid worsening energy insecurity for consumers in Amazonas and the accumulation of losses for the Union due to the concessionaire’s situation.
“The plan presented by Âmbar faces the reality of the facts: in 25 years, under the management of two companies in the electricity sector, the distributor lost R$40 billion, even with several regulatory flexibilities. All plans drawn up in the past to recover Amazonas Energia failed and Âmbar seeks to avoid repeating these mistakes,” said the company.
Amazonas Energia was privatized in 2018, when Eletrobras was still state-owned, and since then its controlling company, Oliveira Energia, failed to improve the situation economic-financial and operational aspects of the distributor. Among the main problems are non-technical losses (theft) of energy, which reach 120%, and high debt.
(By Letícia Fucuchima and InvestNews Editorial)
