The large migration of consumers to the free market in 2024 will mean that energy suppliers will need to be more creative and seek different approaches to attract new customers from now on, experts point out.
The increase in competition is linked to the opening of the free market in January 2024 for all high voltage consumers, which has led to an intense migration from the regulated to the free market in recent months. In the free contracting environment (ACL), the consumer can directly negotiate the purchase of energy with the generator itself or with a supplier.
Data from Thunders shows that the opening left more than 100 thousand consumers able to join the free market.
Exit from the regulated market
According to the consultancy, in November alone 2,149 consumer units left the regulated market and entered the free environment, a record number. Most of the migrations were carried out by the trading companies Cemig (1650), Matrix (1446) and EDP Smart (1311), according to the survey.
It was the second time that the number exceeded two thousand consumers in a single month in Brazil. In August 2024, 2036 new customers had been registered in the free energy market.
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“For those who are generators or traders, opportunities have decreased a little, so they have to think very creatively in order to improve exposure to the market”, says the partner in the Energy, Infrastructure & Projects area at Veirano Advogados, Alberto Fialho.
Despite the high number of migrations already registered, there are still opportunities in negotiation, especially among smaller consumer customers. The lawyer points out that there is intense interest from consumers in segments such as health, mining, steel and telecommunications in leaving the regulated environment.
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Self-production trend
According to Fialho, one of the trends is the continued closing of agreements in the self-production model, in which the consumer becomes a partner in the generation project and has greater discounts on rates. New contract arrangements within this model, such as equalization or lease agreements, tend to gain ground.
These negotiations, however, should attract more consumers who have already migrated to the free market for a longer time, given that many of the recent contracts signed are long-term, lasting over three years.
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One example was the contract recently signed between Albert Einstein Hospital in a consortium with Engeform, in the self-production model, in which Veirano Advogados acted as legal advisor.
The hospital had already migrated to the free environment, but chose to close the self-production agreement to complement other energy supply contracts. The agreement will provide energy to meet around 60% of the hospital’s total consumption for 15 years.
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“With this, he can save even more compared to what he already had as a free consumer,” says Fialho.
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In this context of greater competition for the end customer, some of the differences in securing new agreements tend to be companies that are able to explain in a didactic way to consumers how the energy market works.
“The asymmetry of information is very great. So, I think explaining how it works and educating the client about what risks they are taking is an important differentiator. Also having availability of care and being able to offer a whole range of services and attention even if they don’t have it today”, he says.
