The board of regulatory agency Aneel unanimously decided this Tuesday not to approve the new statute of the Electricity Trading Chamber (CCEE), pointing out a series of illegalities in the text, related to aspects such as criteria for participation in the board of directors and time of mandates.
The refusal again delays the implementation of the new governance designed for the institution by the federal government at the beginning of the year. The Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, had been publicly demanding in recent months that Aneel move forward with this process, which will enable new appointments from the Union to the Chamber’s council.
The approval of the CCEE statute had been on hold at the regulatory agency since April. This Tuesday, the reporting director, Ricardo Tili, brought the topic back to the agenda and voted for non-approval, accusing the CCEE of being “flawed, omissive and reckless” given the illegalities that had already been pointed out to the institution, which for In turn, he would have decided not to make any adjustments to the text before Aneel’s deliberation.
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“I understand that the points are so relevant, representation, term of office… The degree of illegality that this statute has does not allow me to partially approve it”, said Tili.
Among the problems highlighted by Aneel’s technical area is the fact that political activities, such as involvement with parties and electoral campaigns, may be an impediment to occupying positions on the CCEE board of directors, under allegations of lack of moral integrity and unblemished reputation.
Tili stated that this framework violates constitutional provisions, and assessed that associating political activity with a lack of suitability is an “unreasonable prejudice and contrary to the Democratic Rule of Law”.
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Other points were also identified in the statute that would be in disagreement with current laws and regulations, such as the limitation on the reappointment of a director for a residual term and the possibility of a term of office for only one year for the first configuration of the CCEE board under new governance.
The CCEE’s governance was changed by presidential decree issued at the end of last year, in a move that displeased some of the electricity sector agents, who saw an attempt by the government to interfere in a private body.
CCEE is one of the main institutions in the Brazilian electricity sector, acting as a facilitator of energy trading operations, which generate billions of reais in contracts in the free and regulated markets.
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The entity, which is regulated by Aneel, manages and financially settles energy purchase and sale operations on the free market, organizes energy auctions in the captive market, takes care of the collection of sector charges, among other duties.
Under previous rules, the CCEE board of directors was made up of five members, with the government having the right to appoint only the president of the board. The other four members were indications from the “market”, that is, from agents in the energy generation, distribution and commercialization segments.
With the change in governance, the Ministry of Mines and Energy will have the right to appoint three advisors to the CCEE, in addition to the president, who will have a casting vote when there is a tie in the deliberations. The market maintains the other four indications.
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Without the approval of the statute, the government is still unable to move forward with this new structure and appoint advisors. The CCEE has already held an election of advisors this year, still under the old model, but electing market names in nominations that were supported by the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
