Entry · Quality and losses

FEC: Equivalent interruption frequency per consumer unit

How many times is there no electricity, on average?

● checked against the primary source on Sep 30, 2026Source: ANEEL

Acronyms: DEC, Equivalent interruption duration per consumer unit; ANEEL, Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency; FIC, Individual interruption frequency per consumer unit.

In one sentence

Average number of times supply was interrupted at the consumer units of a group; interruptions of 3 minutes or more count.

Real example

FEC of Brazil (determined, weighted by consumer units; all distribution utilities, including permit holders)

4.69interruptions per consumer unitNature 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.

FEC of Brazil in the year, with the same weighting as the DEC.

See in the panel: Quality of supply: duration and frequency

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

Why it matters

It is the counterpart of DEC: a group might have few long interruptions or many short ones. ANEEL also sets FEC limits for each group.

How it is measured

In number of interruptions and hundredths, by group and by month. In the observatory, the FEC of a distribution utility or of Brazil is the monthly average of the groups weighted by consumer units, summed over the 12 months.

Unit: interruptions per consumer unit

Not to be confused with

DEC (Equivalent interruption duration per consumer unit)
DEC measures duration, in hours; FEC measures frequency, in number of interruptions. Both are averages per consumer unit of the group.

What cannot be concluded

It is an average per consumer unit: the number of interruptions of each unit is the FIC.

Related entries

See in the panel

Quality of supply

Official source

ANEELANEEL page “Qualidade do fornecimento de energia elétrica” (Topics, Distribution), published on Jul 1, 2024 and updated on Apr 29, 2026
In other words: in each group, how many times, on average, each unit was without electricity.
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“Já o FEC indica a quantidade média de vezes em que o fornecimento foi interrompido nas unidades consumidoras, para cada conjunto de unidades consumidoras.”
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“São consideradas para os indicadores de continuidade as interrupções com duração maior ou igual a 3 minutos.”
ANEELOpen data portal, dataset “Indicadores Coletivos de Continuidade (DEC e FEC)” (official description)
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.