IMPACTOS DA REGULAÇÃO VIA EMPRESA DE REFERÊNCIA PARA O ATENDIMENTO AO CONSUMIDOR EM UMA CONCESSIONÁRIA DE ENERGIA: O CASO COELBA

Abstract

In 1995, Brazil passed the Public Service Concessions Law (no. 8.987, 13.02.1995), which established the concept of adequate service for public service concessions and required that price tariffs be moderated. Tariff price regimes encourage efficient company management. Public service concessionaries which provide electrical energy operate within these conditions. In 2003, the method for calculating annual readjustment values and the tariff reviews of energy distributors was defined in Technical Note 052 SER of the National Agency of Electrical Energy (Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica: ANEEL) using the Reference Company methodological model. All of the distributor s costs must be reimbursed through this mechanism, including the personal customer service costs of COELBA s Customer Service Agencies and the COELBA Services network. This dissertation analyses the impact of the Reference Company model on customer service, in terms of the necessary quality, availability and coverage from the perspective of cost reduction in tariff calculation and efficiency gains.It concludes that the model proposed by the Reference Company stimulates increasing management efficiency in the concessionaries, generating gains both for the consumer and the energy distributor: 1.For the consumer gains are seen in the maintenance of the quality, availability and coverage necessary for customer service and also from the perspective of cost reduction for tariff calculation at the next moment of tariff readjustment. 2. For the company the tariff results in real gains for the investor, covering business operational costs and generating financial and economic balance in the contract. This is in line with ANEEL s resolution which considers it unfair for consumers to pay for more expensive electricity tariffs than they would otherwise pay if the distributors operated within a competitive market. The model proposed by the Reference Company, therefore, encourages the concessionary company to ever greater management efficiency whilst seeking financial and economic balance in the contract. As a recommendation, the work proposes the setting up of management systems for commercial services and those services requested by clients; an increase in complaint management; and a study of issues regarding the Reference Company model and customer services. Case study methodology was utilized for this work and the following theoretical references were analysed: the Federal Constitution; the Consumer Protection Code; and those ANEEL Resolutions and Technical Notes that refer to energy supply conditions and tariff readjustments.