Entry · Quality and losses
Non-technical losses
How much of the total loss is not technical?
Acronyms: ANEEL, Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency.
In one sentence
Difference between total and technical losses; it results mainly from theft, fraud and metering and billing errors.
Real example
15.0%Portuguese onlydo mercado de baixa tensão medidoNature of the data: Estimated
Jan 2025 to Dec 2025 · 18 concession holders with a published technical and non-technical split (not the non-technical loss of all 51 valid concession holders)
Source: ANEEL, SAMP Balanço. Reference up to Dec 2025. Captured on Sep 30, 2026.
Non-technical losses over the measured low-voltage market, at the concession holders that separate the technical portion.
Estimated: Value obtained by a statistical procedure, with uncertainty.
Why it matters
How it is measured
Determined as the difference between total and technical losses. In the observatory, over the measured low-voltage market (the basis of regulation) and, alongside, over injected energy; the source does not separate theft, fraud and error.
Unit: percentage of the measured low-voltage market
Not to be confused with
Technical losses come from the physics of transport (heating of conductors, transformer cores) and are estimated by model; non-technical losses are the difference between total and technical losses and include theft, fraud and metering and billing errors.
What cannot be concluded
- They include metering and billing errors: they are not a synonym for theft.
- A high rate in an area does not assign responsibility to the families who live in it.
Related entries
See in the panel
Official source
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“As perdas não técnicas ou comerciais decorrem principalmente de furto (ligação clandestina, desvio direto da rede) ou fraude de energia (adulterações no medidor), popularmente conhecidos como “gatos”, erros de medição e de faturamento.”
Literal excerpt from the document
Portuguese only“As perdas não técnicas são apuradas pela diferença entre as perdas totais e as perdas técnicas.”
Documents accessed and text checked on Sep 30, 2026.