Electricity consumers will see smaller increases in electricity bills. President Jair Bolsonaro sanctioned, without vetoes, the Law 14,385published today (28) in the Official Gazette.
Approved by the Chamber of Deputies at the beginning of the month, the text establishes the return of the Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS), a state tax, included in the calculation basis of the Social Integration Program (PIS) and the Contribution for the Financing of Social Security (Cofins), federal taxes.
The law changed the rules of the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) to speed up the return of amounts overcharged in PIS/Cofins. The return will be through smaller increases in energy rates.
In 2017, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) determined the exclusion of ICMS of the price that serves as the basis for calculating PIS/Cofins. The court held that there was double taxation (collection of the same tax twice). In 2021, the STF defined the range of measurewhich would be retroactive to March 15, 2017.
According to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, the Union should return R$ 60.3 billion in PIS/Cofins credits to distributors. Of this total, BRL 12.7 billion has already been returned by Aneel in tariff reviews since 2020, which would have prevented electricity bills from increasing, on average, 5% since then. There is still R$ 47.6 billion to be reimbursed to consumers.
extraordinary review
In a note, Aneel reported that, since 2020, it has returned the amounts related to the exclusion of ICMS from the PIS/Cofins calculation basis. The agency informed that it will carry out an extraordinary review of tariffs for companies that had the readjustment approved without the tax refund. The other distributors will be served according to the 2022 tariff review calendar.
“We emphasize that Aneel has been carrying out this procedure since 2020. For distributors that have already gone through a tariff process in 2022, Aneel will approve an extraordinary tariff review, under the terms of said law. As for the distributors that will still have their processes in the coming months, the adjustment will be carried out in the ordinary tariff processes according to the calendar published on the agency’s website “, highlighted the statement.
According to Aneel, the average adjustment of 12.04% for Enel’s customers, which serves 7.6 million consumer units in the state of São Paulo, already includes the return of PIS/Cofins credits. The agency reported that 8.7% of the composition of the average readjustment index, approved today by the regulatory agency, is related to the return of taxes.
