Court reestablishes Light's injunction and increases RJ's electricity bill by 16.69%

The president of TRF1 (Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region), judge Maria do Carmo Cardoso, reestablished the injunction favorable to Light and once again authorized the exclusion of R$1.04 billion in tax credits from the distributor's tariff calculation, causing the average readjustment of the company's electricity bills to rise from 8.59% to 16.69%.

The new decision represents a turnaround in the case. In March, the TRF1 presidency had accepted Aneel's request to suspend the injunction on the grounds of preserving economic order and reasonable tariffs. Now, after analyzing the internal appeal presented by Light and the subsequent statements added to the process, the judge concluded that there are sufficient elements to review the understanding previously adopted.

"On the merits, it defends the full maintenance of the appealed decision, stating that the injunction granted by the 4th Federal Court of the SJDF promotes undue judicial interference in regulatory matters of high technical complexity, compromises low tariffs, increases the average adjustment of Light's tariffs from 8.59% to 16.69% and produces an estimated impact of approximately R$ 1.04 billion on consumers", says the judge's decision.

Light is the public electricity distribution service concessionaire based in the city of Rio de Janeiro and serves approximately 3.96 million properties, whose electricity consumption currently represents an annual turnover of around R$13.28 billion.

The center of the dispute is the treatment given to tax credits that excluded ICMS from the PIS and Cofins calculation base. When re-examining the case, the president of the TRF1 highlighted that the decision of the previous instance showed, even in a preliminary analysis, signs that the credits already returned to consumers could have exceeded the values actually approved by the Federal Revenue Service.

It was also noted that the sectoral legislation itself determines that the taxes levied on the amounts recovered and the decisions of the competent tax authority are considered in the tariff processes.

The judge also stated that the discussion about the incidence of IRPJ and CSLL, the interpretation of Law 14,385/2022, the effects of the Federal Supreme Court's decision in ADI 7,324 and the limits of Aneel's regulatory action require in-depth analysis, incompatible with the summary procedure of a request for suspension of an injunction.

In the provision, Maria do Carmo Cardoso fully reconsidered the previous decision, rejected the request for suspension of the injunction presented by Aneel and reestablished the effects of the decision in favor of Light. As a result, the internal appeal filed by the distributor was declared prejudiced.

With the new decision, the scenario established by the injunction originally granted to the concessionaire comes back into effect. In March, when the measure was implemented, the average adjustment had an impact on both low and high voltage consumers. Aneel may still seek to reverse the understanding through legal appeals already in progress.

When contacted, Light did not return until the report was completed.

Source: CNN