Entry · Price
PLD limits (floor, structural ceiling and hourly ceiling)
What are the floor and the ceilings of the short-term price?
Acronyms: ANEEL, Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency; PLD, Settlement Price for Differences (spot price); IPCA, Broad National Consumer Price Index.
In one sentence
Values that ANEEL sets each year for the PLD: a floor, a ceiling for each hour (hourly ceiling) and a ceiling for the daily average of hourly prices (structural ceiling).
Real example
R$ 1,611.04/MWhNature of the data: Observed
Jan 1, 2026 to Dec 31, 2026 · Short-Term Market (all submarkets)
Source: ANEEL, Despacho ANEEL nº 3.850/2025. Reference up to Dec 31, 2026. Captured on Sep 30, 2026.
The hourly ceiling in force, as written in the ANEEL act.
Observed: Value published directly by the official or primary source.
Why it matters
How it is measured
In R$/MWh, by calendar year. The ceilings are updated annually by the IPCA; the floor is the greater of two hydropower optimization tariffs. The observatory publishes the value written in each act, with publication and effective date separated, in the limits panel of Regulation.
Unit: R$/MWh, by calendar year
Not to be confused with
PLD (Spot price (Settlement Price for Differences))
The limits are the floor and the two ceilings that ANEEL sets each year; the PLD is the price calculated within them. The limits are nominal values, without inflation correction: comparing years requires correcting the values.
What cannot be concluded
- The annual acts chain the ceiling published in the previous year by the November IPCA change; applying art. 23, § 1 literally, from the September 2019 values, does not reproduce the published values (differences of cents, measured in the limits panel).
- The values are nominal: comparing years requires a deflator.
Related entries
In the learning paths
See in the panel
Official source
In other words: there are two ceilings, a structural one and an hourly one.
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“Art. 22. Ficam estabelecidos dois limites máximos do PLD: I - um limite máximo estrutural (PLDmax_estrutural); e II - um limite máximo horário (PLDmax_horário).”
In other words: the hourly ceiling limits each hour; the structural ceiling limits the average of the day, and the CCEE adjusts the hours when the average exceeds it.
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“§ 3º A partir da vigência do PLDmax_horário, caso a média diária dos PLDs horários for superior ao PLDmax_estrutural, a CCEE deve ajustar a série de PLDs horários até que a média de seus valores seja igual ao PLDmax_estrutural.”
In other words: the ceilings are corrected every year by the inflation measured by the IPCA.
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“§ 1º Os limites máximos do PLD serão atualizados pela ANEEL anualmente pela variação do Índice Nacional de Preços ao Consumidor Amplo (IPCA) a partir dos seguintes valores, a preços de setembro de 2019:”
In other words: the floor is the greater of the Itaipu optimization tariff and that of the other hydropower plants.
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“Art. 24. O valor mínimo do PLD será calculado anualmente pela ANEEL considerando o maior valor entre: I - a Tarifa de Energia de Otimização da UHE Itaipu (TEOItaipu); e II - a Tarifa de Energia de Otimização (TEO) das outras usinas hidrelétricas do Sistema Interligado Nacional.”
Documents accessed and text checked on Sep 30, 2026.