Part 2 Specific Issues of Arbitration in Brazil, 22 Electric Energy Arbitration

Subject(s):

Arbitral agreements

This concluding chapter examines electric energy arbitration in Brazil. An appropriately developed electric sector is a key element for any country's economic and social growth. It requires an adequate volume of investment, either domestic or foreign, in order to meet the regularly increasing needs of all stakeholders involved in such market, including the population. Brazil's electricity sector is the largest in South America and plays an important role in the country's economy. Moreover, Brazil has its own and well-functioning electricity generation system. To keep up with the development and needs of such a system, the Brazilian legal and regulatory framework has undergone through important changes over the past 25 years or so. A well-established and complex set of rules and regulations is now in place; in this context, arbitration has been steadily introduced as an alternative method to resolve the disputes arising in that sector. The chapter then provides an overview of the electric energy market in Brazil, with some historical milestones and details on the steps taken for its modernization, as well as its current structure. It also analyses how arbitration has now become an important part of this complex system, in which a variety of actors operate at different levels.