"Reform Now" in the electricity sector
The Brazilian electricity sector is approaching an inflection point. If current rules are maintained, the system runs the real risk of collapsing before 2030 - not due to a lack of natural resources or technical capacity, but due to the exhaustion of a model that no longer responds to the country's reality.
The time to act is now. Still in 2026, it is necessary to structure the bases for a comprehensive reform: mobilize agents, align guidelines and insert the issue at the center of the electoral debate. Implementation should begin at the beginning of the next political cycle, in 2027, with the Executive and Legislative branches committed to an effective transformation - and no longer to marginal adjustments.
The current model was designed between 1998 and 2004, in a completely different context. Since then, the sector has undergone profound changes, while regulation has remained essentially the same. Over the years, specific interventions were chosen - often through provisional measures - which, in addition to not resolving structural problems, often created new distortions. The result is a system that is expensive, inefficient and increasingly difficult to sustain.
The Brazilian electrical matrix has transformed rapidly. We went from a predominantly hydrothermal model to a diverse composition, with a strong presence of wind and solar sources. Today, around 90% of the matrix is renewable - a strategic asset of global relevance, but more complex and less controllable, as it depends on natural variables.
At the same time, the consumption profile changed. Distributed generation has expanded exponentially, reaching millions of consumers. The free market has expanded, allowing large consumers to choose their suppliers. Electrification advances, with growth in the fleet of electric vehicles. Demand has become more dynamic, decentralized and unpredictable.
The system, however, did not follow this transformation. The most emblematic example of this disconnect is the growth of curtailment. In 2025, Brazil wasted around 20% of all the renewable energy that could have been generated. What was once a residual operational adjustment mechanism has become a structural problem, affecting investments, reducing efficiency and putting the energy transition itself at risk. We turn abundance into inefficiency.
Extreme weather events test the limits of infrastructure and governance. More intense storms, winds outside historical standards and service failures expose regulatory and institutional weaknesses. The country still lacks clear and effective instruments to deal with serious failures in the provision of services, even in critical situations involving large urban centers. Legal uncertainty and the absence of well-defined mechanisms limit the public authorities' ability to respond.
Another critical vector is the cost of energy. The electricity bill has become one of the main channels for financing public policies in Brazil. Between 2018 and 2025, sectoral charges jumped from R$18 billion to more than R$58 billion, putting pressure on tariffs and reducing the competitiveness of the economy. Today, around 40% of the cost of electricity is made up of charges, taxes and losses - a clear portrait of accumulated inefficiencies.
Energy, which should be a vector of development, has become a factor of systemic increase in prices. It's in the cost of food, industry, services. The more expensive it is, the greater the impact on inflation, employment and income.
Given this scenario, the reform of the electricity sector cannot be fragmented or captured by isolated interests. A broad pact is necessary between all agents, regulators, companies and consumers. A real commitment to redistribute costs, risks and benefits, focusing on the sustainability of the system as a whole.
The starting point must be a complete redesign of the sector's pillars: planning, operations and commercial model. It is essential to align expansion and consumption, modernize economic signals and ensure regulatory predictability to attract investments efficiently.
It will be up to the Ministry of Mines and Energy to lead this process, with effective participation from the entire chain, especially consumers - who today bear the brunt of the distortions. It will be up to the National Congress to transform this construction into a new legal framework, capable of supporting a fair, competitive energy transition aligned with the challenges of the 21st century.
The diagnosis is known. The solutions too. What is needed is a political decision to break the inertia. Therefore, the National Energy Consumers Front is categorical: there is no more room for patches. Brazil needs structural reform of the electricity sector - and it needs it now. Reform in the electrical sector!
* Luiz Eduardo Barata, president of the National Energy Consumers Front
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Source: CNN