Better understand the effects of unpaid refunds on your electricity bill
2 min read
The head of state, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), has approved a legislative proposal that provides for the consumer’s right to reimburse for excess costs in Electricity bill. Before gaining the president’s approval, the new law was voted on in both the House of Representatives and the Federal Senate. In this sense, see this article for more details about Refund of unpaid amounts of electricity bill According to the new law.
Read more: FGTS Digital should start operating later this year
Better understand the effects of unpaid refunds on your electricity bill
The National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) will be responsible for carrying out the procedure and refunding customers who set wrong charges in their accounts.
The Federal Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that ICMS chargeable to energy distributors does not need to be included in the basis for calculating PIS/Cofins affecting pricing. This decision allowed distributors to recover nearly R$60 billion. In this sense, data from Aneel shows that there are still R$47.6 billion in consumer refunds.
Tariff review
The law also requires Aneel to conduct an “extraordinary” tariff review to expedite refunds. In this case, the PIS/Cofins balances, which have been paid in full and disputed by distributors up to January 2022, must be transferred to consumers in the form of a rate cut.
Will the light bill go down?
According to experts, the law that provides for the payment of double charges on the electricity bill will not have immediate positive effects on consumers. What actually happens is that in some states, new increases in the electric bill will overwhelm the extra “credit.” As in the case of Sao Paulo, for example, where the average increase in energy prices will be 12.4% starting this month, according to Enel Distribuição São Paulo (Enel SP).
“Entrepreneur. Music enthusiast. Lifelong communicator. General coffee aficionado. Internet scholar.”
