ONS and ABRATE: extreme weather events in transmission

The ONS reported that on 1 October it received, at its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, representatives of ABRATE to discuss the impacts of extreme weather events on transmission facilities of the National Interconnected System. The meeting was attended by the ONS director-general, Marcio Rea, and the executive president of ABRATE, Talita Porto.

On the other side of the chain, the incentive already exists. According to an Eixos report of 24 October 2025, ANEEL's board approved on 21 October 2025 a resilience rule aimed at distribution companies, with compensation to consumers for interruptions longer than 24 hours in urban areas and 48 hours in rural areas.

The difference in regime matters. The transmission company operates with revenue defined in a long-term concession and remunerated for facility availability, not for energy transported. A windstorm that brings down a structure hits availability and, consequently, revenue, within a contract that is already signed.

That is why the meeting matters for what it may turn into regulation. Mapping the impact of extreme events on transmission facilities precedes the decision to treat resilience reinforcement as an obligation, as remunerated investment or as concessionaire risk. Once the framework is defined, preventive spending ceases to be an isolated bet by each company.