Aneel authorizes 27.9% price hike for Elektro

Brazil's power regulator Aneel has authorized a 27.9% hike in regulated tariffs at Brazilian distributor Elektro as a result of its five-yearly price revision process, Aneel said in a statement Tuesday. The price hike was below the 28.2% initial suggestion published by Aneel before the public hearing, and below the 42.8% requested by the company. Aneel said it has split the price hike in two parts: a 20.3% raise will be effective from Tuesday, while the remaining 7.68% will be applied over the next three years. Aneel set Elektro's Factor X adjustment at 2.38%. Factor X is designed to encourage greater efficiency at the companies, and will be deducted from the inflation index during the next four annual price adjustments. The regulator has also postponed 4.78% of increase related to the CVA accounts for non-manageable costs, which will be advanced through government loans and recouped from consumers in the future. Elektro supplies 1.7 million customers in 223 municipalities in Sao Paulo state and five municipalities in Mato Grosso do Sul state, which consume 3.6% of Brazil's power, Aneel said. It is controlled by US-based power company Enron, which is in the process of transferring its shares in Elektro and other Latin American power companies to a new holding company, Prisma Energy International.