Entry · Market

ACL: Free contracting environment

Where is energy bought in freely negotiated contracts?

● checked against the primary source on Oct 6, 2026Source: Presidency of the Republic

Acronyms: CCEE, Electric Energy Trading Chamber; ACR, Regulated Contracting Environment; EPE, Energy Research Office; PLD, Settlement Price for Differences (spot price).

In one sentence

Market segment in which energy is bought and sold in freely negotiated bilateral contracts, according to specific trading rules and procedures.

Real example

ACL share of the consumption accounted by the CCEE, without exports (12 months)

42.4%Nature of the data: Calculated

Sep 2025 to Aug 2026 · SIN

Source: CCEE, conferido com monthly consumption by contracting environment. Reference up to Aug 2026. Captured on Oct 6, 2026. Dataset code at the source: CONSUMO_CLASSE_AGENTE, CONSUMO_MENSAL_AMBIENTE_COMERCIALIZACAO.

Share of the consumption accounted by the CCEE that is in the ACL agent classes, as a ratio of sums in energy over the 12 months.

Of every 100 MWh accounted by the CCEE in the ACR and ACL classes, without exports, 42.4 were consumed in the ACL over the 12 months from Sep 2025 to Aug 2026.

See in the panel: Market: free and regulated

Calculated: Deterministic transformation made by Scrutiniums, with a published formula.

Why it matters

The part of consumption that contracts in this environment does not buy energy from the distribution utility; the ACL share of consumption shows how much of the market has started to negotiate its own energy.

How it is measured

The ACL share is the energy consumed in the ACL agent classes divided by the consumption accounted by the CCEE (ACR and ACL), without exports. Here, the ACR is the Distributor agent class and the ACL, the sum of the other classes, except Exporter. The calculation sums the energy of the months before dividing: it is a ratio of sums, not the average of monthly percentages.

Technical detail: the norm, the sources and the observatory's calculation

In the observatory, through the consumption accounted by the CCEE in the consumption agent classes, without exports, in average MW; and through free consumption on the grid published by the EPE, in MWh. Shares always as a ratio of sums in energy, never an average of percentages.

Unit: average MW (consumption accounted by the CCEE) or MWh (consumption on the grid, EPE)

Not to be confused with

MCP (Short-Term Market)
The ACL is the segment of freely negotiated bilateral contracts; the MCP is where the CCEE determines, at the PLD, the balance of each agent profile. The price of an ACL contract is private and is not the PLD.
ACR (Regulated contracting environment)
In the ACR, selling agents and distribution utilities negotiate through public tenders; in the ACL, contracts are bilateral and freely negotiated. In the panels, each environment appears in two universes (consumption accounted by the CCEE and consumption on the grid from the EPE), which are not mixed.

What cannot be concluded

The observatory does not publish ACL contract prices: the contracts are bilateral and private, and the PLD is not their price.

Related entries

See in the panel

Market: free and regulated

Official source

Presidency of the RepublicDecree No. 5.163 of Jul 30, 2004, art. 1, § 2, item II (consolidated text, wording in force on Oct 6, 2026)
In other words: in the ACL, buyer and seller negotiate the contracts directly, within the trading rules.
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“II - Ambiente de Contratação Livre - ACL o segmento do mercado no qual se realizam as operações de compra e venda de energia elétrica, objeto de contratos bilaterais livremente negociados, conforme regras e procedimentos de comercialização específicos;”

Documents accessed and text checked on Oct 6, 2026.