By Brazil Stock Guide – Brazil’s electricity regulator imposed a record R$82.7 million ($16.2 million) fine on Neoenergia Coelba for irregularities in requests to connect small-scale power generators to the distribution grid.
The penalty represents 0.56% of the Bahia-based utility’s net operating revenue and is the largest ever issued by the National Electric Energy Agency, known as Aneel, in a distributed-generation enforcement case.
Regulators found that Coelba improperly rejected applications to connect micro- and mini-generation systems. The company also missed deadlines for issuing connection estimates, failed to notify customers within the required period and omitted mandatory information from those documents.
Coelba has 10 days to challenge the decision through an administrative appeal or pay the fine. The amount was set after Aneel completed its enforcement proceeding into the distributor’s handling of connection requests.
The utility is part of Neoenergia, the Brazilian electricity business controlled by Spain’s Iberdrola SA (BME: IBE). Neoenergia previously traded in São Paulo under the NEOE3 ticker before completing its delisting from B3 in 2026.
Distributed generation allows households, businesses and rural producers to generate electricity from renewable sources or qualified cogeneration. Surplus power delivered to the local network can be converted into credits and used to offset future electricity consumption.
Brazil has regulated the system since April 17, 2012, when Aneel Resolution 482 established the framework for micro- and mini-distributed generation and the electricity compensation mechanism.
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