(…) 4.8 Another legal mechanism to consider is the permit. In contrast to concessions, permits have not generally been used in Brazil for public services (that is, monopolies) such as conventional electricity distribution. Permits have, however, been granted to rural electric cooperatives to extend the grid to areas not yet supplied by the concessionaire. With respect to implementing the permit approach, either ANEEL or a state regulatory authority would award the permit. Potential permissionaires could include the primary concessionaire, concessionaires from other states, rural cooperatives, and joint ventures between renewable energy developers and utilities, NGOs, and other institutions. A permissionaire's rights to serve a given customer do not appear to be subordinate to those of a concessionaire. Potential conflicts between the two would thus be on economic rather than legal rounds. In the past, permissionaires were not regulated by the former National Department of Water and Electric Energy (DNAEE). Now ANEEL is producing an implementing regulation to control their tariffs.

4.9 Concessionaires are currently the primary entities possessing explicit rights and obligations for providing retail electricity services in Brazil. However, in the future, distribution concessionaires could face competition in serving deregulated customers from independent power producers (IPPs) and other electricity retailers. IPPs can sell electricity to concessionaires, permissionaires, and certain types of retail consumers (including consumers who can demonstrate to the granting authority that the local concessionaire did not provide electricity within 180 days of the request). However, as a practical matter, those consumers would not constitute a well defined market. Finally, because distribution and retail activities are being unbundled, independent electricity retailers could theoretically provide off-grid services. This possibility, however, seems even less likely than for IPPs. (…)


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HTH.
beatriz souza