Thermoelectric power plant in Goiás, which has been shut down for 5 years, receives more than R$ 100 million paid out of consumer pockets, even without supplying energy!

Even off, that is, without supplying energy, the Anápolis thermoelectric plant receives R$ 1,3 million per month paid by consumers!

For almost five years, the Daia thermoelectric plant, in the Agroindustrial District of Anápolis, in the central region of Goiás, has been receiving BRL 1,3 million monthly from consumers even without generating energy. Diesel-powered, the unit had won an energy auction in 2005 and received a contract from January 2008 until December 2022.

The Daia thermoelectric plant belongs to the company Usina Termelétrica de Anápolis Sociedade Anônima. According to the complaint made by Estadão, the plant received more than R$ 100 million in recent years and still accumulated more than R$ 80 million in fines, despite the contract being terminated this month. 

Also according to the information collected by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, the right of the company to maintain the contracts and, therefore, receive fixed revenue was guaranteed in court through injunctions in 2017 and 2020, that is, the plant is entitled to receive a fixed revenue, paid even when shut down, and to a variable and additional portion when called upon to supply the country's energy demand.

Diesel powered plant, was one of the winners of the first new energy auction in 2005

The diesel-powered plant was one of the winners of the first new energy auction in 2005. At the time, the development was already ready and had previously been contracted for three years.

The new contract determined that the company would deliver energy for 15 years, from January 2008 to December 2022. However, generation stopped in October 2017.

The National Electrical System Operator (ONS) ordered the plant to run for at least five months over the last two years, but the order was not complied with.

It is worth mentioning that even when it is turned off and without supplying energy to the population, the plant's monthly revenue in 2022 is R$ 1,3 million. From January 2013 to September 2021, the plant received R$ 109,3 million from the consumer's pocket.

UTE Daia receives fixed revenue amounts and does not pay fines of R$ 82,8 million for not assuming electricity generation commitments.

UTE presented a request for judicial recovery in 2012, which caused a war in court due to the injunctions that the company received. In this way, the thermoelectric plant receives the fixed revenue amounts and does not pay the fines of R$82,8 million for not assuming energy generation commitments. 

According to a managing partner of the plant, there was an error by the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) in the contract. Therefore, the plant would have generated energy for years with resources that were not enough, which led to a series of debts and resulted in the request for judicial recovery. 

“As long as the plant is in judicial recovery and the price is deficient, it does not need to operate. I have a lawsuit that covers this, I'm not doing it randomly. If I were, I would have already turned it off”, said José Alves Neto, company director, for Estadão. “I would like to be operating and making money, like every businessman, but I will not go in to increase my problem by millions of reais because the government changed the competition, changed the rules in the middle of the way, made mistakes and does not assume”, he completed.