Supplier of last resort in Decree 13,097

ABSOLAR, in statements reproduced in the publication, presents the regulation of supply of last resort (SUI) as one of the main advances of Decree 13,097 of 12 August 2026, which opens the free market to consumers supplied at voltages below 2.3 kV from 25 November 2027.

What does not appear is who pays when the supplier fails. Decree 13,097 itself, in Article 7, §5, determines that the administrative costs of the SUI and the financial effects of involuntary deficit will be apportioned among all free market consumers, in proportion to consumption, through a tariff charge calculated by ANEEL.

The consequence concerns contractual exposure. Those who migrate take on third-party credit risk, not just the price of their own energy. Paragraph 2 of the same article states that the SUI tariff may not be lower than the energy tariff of the distribution utility's subgroup and must be increasing, which makes remaining on it an escalating cost.

The risk of a retailer leaving the market is absorbed by free consumers as a whole, not by the distribution utility.