Entry · Quality and losses
DEC: Equivalent interruption duration per consumer unit
For how long is there no electricity, on average?
Acronyms: ANEEL, Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency; DIC, Individual interruption duration per consumer unit; ONS, National Electric System Operator.
In one sentence
Average time, in hours, that the consumer units of a group were without electricity; interruptions of 3 minutes or more count.
Real example
9.33 hNature of the data: Calculated
Jan 2025 to Dec 2025 · Brazil
Source: ANEEL, Indicadores Coletivos de Continuidade (DEC e FEC). Reference up to Dec 2025. Captured on Sep 30, 2026.
DEC of Brazil in the year: monthly average of the groups weighted by consumer units, summed over the 12 months.
Calculated: Deterministic transformation made by Scrutiniums, with a published formula.
Why it matters
How it is measured
In hours and hundredths of an hour (10.50 h is 10 hours and 30 minutes), by group and by month, determined by the distribution utility and sent to ANEEL. In the observatory, the DEC of a distribution utility or of Brazil is the monthly average of the groups weighted by consumer units, summed over the 12 months.
Unit: hours and hundredths of an hour per consumer unit
Not to be confused with
FEC (Equivalent interruption frequency per consumer unit)
DEC measures duration, in hours; FEC measures frequency, in number of interruptions. Both are averages per consumer unit of the group.
Compensation for violation of a continuity limit
Compensation depends on the individual indicators of each unit (DIC, FIC and others), which are not published; it is not calculated from the DEC of the group.
What cannot be concluded
- It is an average per consumer unit: it does not say how long each person was without electricity; the time of each unit is the DIC.
- Hundredths of an hour are not minutes: 9.33 h is 9 h 20 min.
- The published DEC is the determined one: the rule excludes from the count interruptions due to emergencies, critical days, origin outside the distribution system and load cuts requested by the ONS. With these portions added, the time without electricity is greater than the determined one; the Quality of supply page shows both measures.
Related entries
See in the panel
Official source
In other words: in each group, how many hours, on average, each unit was without electricity.
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“O indicador DEC representa, para cada conjunto de unidades consumidoras, o tempo médio, em horas, no qual as unidades consumidoras permaneceram sem o fornecimento de energia elétrica.”
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“São consideradas para os indicadores de continuidade as interrupções com duração maior ou igual a 3 minutos.”
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“O descumprimento dos limites de DEC e FEC gera consequências às distribuidoras, tais como a necessidade de realização de um Plano de Resultados para melhoria do desempenho, a limitação da distribuição de proventos aos acionistas e até a abertura de processo de caducidade da concessão”
ANEELOpen data portal, dataset “Indicadores Coletivos de Continuidade (DEC e FEC)” (official description)
In other words: DEC comes in hours with hundredths, and FEC in number of interruptions with hundredths.
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“O conjunto de dados apresenta os limites e os valores apurados dos indicadores coletivos de continuidade DEC (Duração Equivalente de Interrupção por Unidade Consumidora), expresso em horas e centésimos de horas, e FEC (Frequência Equivalente de Interrupção por Unidade Consumidora), expresso em número de interrupções e centésimos do número de interrupções.”
Documents accessed and text checked on Sep 30, 2026.