A survey by the National Energy Consumers Front confirms with numbers an old perception in the sector: among the large hydroelectric plants in the country, the generation cost of the Itaipu binational plant weighs the most on Brazilians' pockets.
Last year, the tariff for the plant for the 31 distributors obligated to buy its energy was R$ 294 per MWh (megawatt-hour). The amount far exceeds that practiced by eight other large hydroelectric plants comparable to Itaipu — having already paid construction and installation costs, having economies of scale, produced over 5 million MWh, and being able to offer lower values.
On average, the MWh of this group cost R$ 101.78. That is, in this context, Itaipu's price is almost triple.
The energy from the binational plant cost almost twice the value of the most expensive in this group, the Ilha Solteira hydroelectric plant, whose tariff was R$ 148 last year. Compared to the Xingó value, the cheapest, with a tariff of R$ 56, Itaipu cost five times more.
Economically, according to the Front's evaluation, Itaipu's tariff for distributors should be equivalent to that practiced by older hydroelectric plants, such as Furnas and Itaparica, whose tariff last year was, respectively, R$ 65 and R$ 70.