MIGRAÇÃO DE CONSUMIDOR DE ENERGIA ELÉTRICA PARA O AMBIENTE DE CONTRATAÇÃO LIVRE COM DEMANDA INFERIOR A 500kW

Abstract

The Free Contracting Environment continues to conquer new consumers, in 2020 it registered a new migratory wave, with about 23% growth in relation to the previous year. It currently covers approximately 30% of Brazilian electricity consumption. This expansion is due to the advantages provided by this energy contracting environment. When a consumer joins the free energy market, he buys energy in free competition, has more financial predictability and can also encourage sustainability on the planet through the purchase of energy from renewable sources. Nevertheless, for a consumer to be eligible for the Free Contracting Environment, it is necessary to have a minimum contracted demand of 500kW. For 2021, a regulatory change was made, where the disclosure of the Settlement Price of Differences (PLD) became hourly, changing the results of Financial Settlement. This work aims to study the feasibility of migrating to a consumer-free environment with demand initially below 500kW, considering the new hourly Settlement Price of Differences (PLD). For this, the proposed methodology for comparing the feasibility in the two environments is presented. The application of the methodology is carried out with six consumers, with the load curves of three consumers being real and three are hypothetical curves, in the latter case with half the demand of the previous curves. The results obtained show that it may be possible for a consumer with a demand below 500kW to adapt and migrate to the free market. However, it depends on two crucial points: the percentage of consumption in peak hours in relation to total consumption and the price of long- term energy.