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Setor Elétrico
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Entry · Quality and losses

Energy losses

How much energy passes through the grids and is not sold?

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

Acronyms: ANEEL, Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency; SAMP, Market Information Monitoring System for Economic Regulation, from ANEEL.

In one sentence

Energy that passes through the transmission and distribution grids but is not sold, for technical or commercial reasons.

Real example

Total energy losses in distribution

90.4 TWhNature of the data: Observed

Jan 2025 to Dec 2025 · Distribution concession holders (Brazil)

Source: ANEEL, SAMP Balanço. Reference up to Dec 2025. Captured on Sep 30, 2026.

Total energy losses of distribution concession holders in the last complete year, as ANEEL calculates them in SAMP.

See in the panel: Losses: map of distribution utilities

Observed: Value published directly by the official or primary source.

Why it matters

According to ANEEL, the regular consumer bears part of these losses in the tariff, and regulation limits the pass-through of what exceeds the efficient level.

How it is measured

In the observatory, total losses of the distribution utility as ANEEL calculates them in the SAMP Balance (measured value), in MWh, and the rate over the distribution utility's own reference injected energy.

Unit: MWh and percentage of injected energy

Not to be confused with

  • Regulatory loss percentage

    Energy losses are the actual figure, calculated by ANEEL in SAMP; the regulatory percentage is the level ANEEL recognizes in the tariff of each concession holder. A regulatory parameter is not an actual loss.

What cannot be concluded

  • The rate of a distribution utility describes the whole area: it is not the loss of each municipality or of each consumer.

Related entries

In the learning paths

See in the panel

Official source

  • ANEELANEEL page “Perdas de Energia” (Topics, Distribution), published on Feb 16, 2022 and updated on Apr 30, 2026 

    In other words: it is the energy that flows through the grids and does not become a sale, because of the physics of the grids or for commercial reasons.

    Literal excerpt from the document
    Portuguese only“As perdas referem-se à energia elétrica gerada que passa pelas linhas de transmissão (Rede Básica) e redes da distribuição, mas que não chega a ser comercializada, seja por motivos técnicos ou comerciais.”
    Literal excerpt from the document
    Portuguese only“A regulação por incentivos adotada pela ANEEL, quando observada ineficiência da gestão da concessionária, limita o repasse das perdas não técnicas para a conta de energia.”

Documents accessed and text checked on Sep 30, 2026.