Different cities in Brazil had this Monday (27) protests against the increase in the electricity tariff for the population.
In some cases, the electricity bill of families on the outskirts of the country reached R$1,000 and the Protection Program e Consumer Defense (Procon) has already received more than 40 thousand complaints from users.
Read more: Increased electricity bills: what is behind the “water crisis” in the country?
According to MAB, the volume of water that entered the reservoirs of hydroelectric plants in the last year was not transformed into energy.
Data from the National System Operator (ONS) reveal the volume of energy produced by hydroelectric plants was 47,300 average MW, that is, 4,250 average MW below the amount of water that entered the reservoirs in the same period, equivalent to 51,550 MW, or one Belo Monte power plant.
The “water crisis” discourse would hide the fact that the reservoirs were emptied without the need to meet an increase in demand, since the national consumption of electricity decreased by an average of 10% during the year 2020. demand increased in the following year and in light of energy shortages, the tariff exploded.
Also read: Why will light become even more expensive in Brazil?
“All this spilled water could have been stored or transformed into energy, without increasing costs. But that did not happen. The owners of the hydroelectric plants did not lose money with this, as the so-called water deficit is fully charged to the population’s electricity bills “, pointed the MAB.
In an interview with Brazil in fact, Roberto Oliveira, from the national coordination of the movement in Rio de Janeiro, listed some factors behind the discourse of the “water crisis” that has been spread by the Bolsonaro government and exposed in the media. Check out:
Increase
“The Bolsonaro government authorized another 50% increase in the Electric Energy Tariff Flags. This measure will force the people to pay R$ 14.20 for each 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) consumed per month. This charge will be valid until April per hour. of 2022”.
Benefited
“The big problem is that this amount collected will go to the companies in the electricity sector, which have already profited immensely, and to subsidize large consumers (large companies that consume a lot of energy). This can be classified as theft. It forces the working people to pay dearly to pass the money to the energy companies themselves and to the big industries that already make a lot of profits”.
collusion
“This great crisis in the sector, which we can call chaos, is the result of a government policy in collusion with the big energy companies, which operated the lakes until they were empty and, as a result, created an environment of water scarcity, without water, without hydroelectric power generation. Thus, justifying the explosion in tariffs, penalizing the people who pay and have no choice about which energy they want to buy, and filling big businessmen who work in the sector with money.”
Mistake
“The current energy policy of the Bolsonaro government has used energy from thermoelectric plants, which generate energy at a high price, reaching up to R$1,500.00 for every 1,000 kilowatt hour.”
Theft
“The scenario is worrying, the Bolsonaro government’s energy policy is unfair, it penalizes the poorest, who are already being so attacked. With unemployment on the rise, the consequences of the pandemic, the price of the basic food basket, rent, transport , cooking gas, fuel, how are the Brazilian people going to pay for all this?
It is not the people who must pay this bill. The Brazilian people are victims of plunder by large energy companies, finance capital and their own government. It is urgent to change the current policy in the electricity sector. Only with a lot of popular mobilization will it be possible, this involves the defeat of Bolsonaro and his economic policy.”
Source: BoF Rio de Janeiro
Edition: Mariana Pitasse
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