The regulation guarantees discounts on energy tariffs for irrigation and aquaculture.

A demand from the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA) and the productive sector was addressed in Ordinance No. 137/2025, from the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), which improves the rules for granting special discounts on electricity tariffs for irrigation and aquaculture. The regulation guarantees the application of tariff discounts during a daily period of eight hours and thirty minutes, in addition to establishing objective guidelines for its implementation. According to the CNA's assessment, the regulation, published on Tuesday (9) in the "Official Gazette of the Union", overcomes regulatory gaps previously subject to the discretionary definition of electricity concessionaires and permit holders, a situation that generated legal uncertainty and doubts about the effective application of the benefit to rural producers. For the Confederation, the decision represents an important advance for the legal and operational security of rural producers who depend on irrigation and aquaculture management to maintain the productivity and competitiveness of their activities. According to CNA's analysis, the new regulation ensures not only a daily period of eight hours and thirty minutes for the use of the benefit, but also guarantees the possibility of its continuous or fractional application. However, it is worth noting that the anticipation of the peak time from 6 pm to 5 pm generates significant technical and operational impacts on irrigation systems, considering that the equipment and projects are designed for continuous operation of approximately 21 hours per day. The change may compromise the operational planning necessary to maintain the tariff discount for irrigators, since the use of energy during the peak period implies a significant increase in operational costs. Thus, the measure may affect the economic balance of projects with higher energy demand and a more sensitive cost structure. The regulation also prohibits concessionaires and licensees from imposing restrictions that compromise this flexibility, except for the period between 5 pm and 9:30 pm, as well as other technically justified situations. The Sustainability Coordinator of CNA (National Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock), Nelson Ananias, stated that the text of the regulation guarantees the right to special discounts on electricity tariffs for irrigation and aquaculture activities, as provided for in Law 10.438/2022, continuously or in installments, provided that the critical period is respected. According to Nelson, the regulation also ensures that the benefit can be divided into up to three daily periods with fixed weekly schedules, which offers greater flexibility for planning productive activities, in addition to taking into account the different demands throughout the harvests and seasons of the year. “With the text of the regulation, a series of divergent interpretations and restrictions that, in practice, hindered producers' access to the benefit provided for by law are eliminated,” he explained. “Although it does not completely resolve the sector's demand, the measure represents an important advance by guaranteeing more stable conditions for productive planning and for maintaining the competitiveness of Brazilian agriculture,” Ananias highlighted.

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.