The lower house of the Brazilian parliament has decided not to vote on the law to privatise state-owned power utility Eletrobras in 2018. The privatisation process will be dealt with by the next administration, after the October 2018 presidential and general election (1/3 of the Parliament to be elected).
The Federal government currently controls 51% of Eletrobras' voting shares and 40.99% of its capital. The company has a power generating capacity of 48 GW, which represents around 31% of the country's capacity (as of 2017) and in particular a 50% stake (7 GW) in Itaipu Binacional, the company operating the 14 GW Itaipu hydropower plant. Besides, it operates about half of the country's transmission network (about 64 900 km of transmission lines, i.e. 49% of Brazil's total). As of 2017, the company had a debt load amounting US$14.7bn. Privatising a minority stake would reduce the country's budget deficit and avert another debt rating downgrade. The company's total value is now estimated at R$20bn (around US$6.3bn) and the government could sell up to R$12bn (US$3.8bn). The privatisation would exclude key assets, such as the Itaipu hydropower plant and nuclear power plants.
In addition, Brazil development bank BNDES has decided to suspend an auction of six electricity distribution companies owned by Eletrobras, as a court ruling saying that all privatisation must be first approved by the Congress is blocking the sale. The auction for the six distributors, located in north and northeastern Brazil, was scheduled for 26 July 2018 but BNDES will only proceed once it has legal authorization to do so.
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