The creation of Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. (Eletrobras) was proposed in 1954 by President Getúlio Vargas. The project faced great opposition and was only approved after seven years in the National Congress. On April 25, 1961, President Jânio Quadros signed Law 3,890-A, authorizing the Federal Government to establish Eletrobras. The company's installation took place officially on June 11, 1962, in a solemn session of the National Council for Water and Electricity (CNAEE), at Palácio Laranjeiras, in Rio de Janeiro, with the presence of President João Goulart.
Eletrobras received the assignment to promote studies, projects for the construction and operation of generating plants, transmission lines and substations destined to supply the country's electricity. The new company started to contribute decisively to the expansion of the supply of electric energy and the development of the country.
Institutional reforms and privatizations in the 1990s led to the loss of some functions of the state-owned company and changes in Eletrobras' profile. During this period, the company also started to act, by legal determination and temporarily, in the distribution of electric energy, through companies in the states of Alagoas, Piauí, Rondônia, Acre, Roraima and Amazonas. Eletrobras ended its activities in the distribution sector in 2018.
The process was part of a broad corporate restructuring with the reduction of the number of Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) until 2021, in addition to the creation of Eletrobras CGT Eletrosul, from the merger of the operations of the subsidiaries Eletrobras Eletrosul and Companhia de Geração Térmica de Energia. (Eletrobras CGTEE) and the merger of Eletrobras Amazonas GT by Eletrobras Eletronorte.
In February 2021, Provisional Measure No. 1,031/2021 allowed the inclusion of Eletrobras in the National Privatization Program (PND), enabling BNDES to contract the technical studies necessary for structuring the operation. In July, the conversion of this provisional measure into Law No. 14,182/2021 guaranteed the necessary legislative authorization for the privatization to proceed. Three months later, in October 2021, the resolution of the Investment Partnership Program (PPI) Board was published, which approved the privatization model.
The Federal Audit Court (TCU) has twice expressed its opinion on the privatization of Eletrobras. In the first, in February 2022, when it approved the value added by the new concession grants for electricity generation and, in the second, in May of this year, when it validated the model for the privatization of the company. The process relied on contributions from the TCU and the National Congress for its implementation.
In order to make the privatization viable, a corporate restructuring was carried out, separating Eletrobras' participation in Itaipu Binacional and transferring control over Eletronuclear to the state-owned Empresa Nacional de Participações em Energia Nuclear e Binacional (ENBPar), so that the two companies would remain with the Union, as determined by law.
On June 14, 2022, the traditional ringing of the bell on the São Paulo stock exchange (B3) symbolically marked the capitalization of Eletrobras, now a corporation of international standard. The capitalization resulted in a significant dispersion of the company's capital stock and, with the entry of new investors, in the strengthening of the capital market as a whole.
Three days earlier, on June 11, 2022, the company celebrated its 60th anniversary by telling its story of pioneering and innovating in the electric energy sector. The challenges faced by Eletrobras throughout its trajectory and the solutions adopted confirm the perception that the company is ready for the future, based on the values and experiences it has acquired over 60 years. A unique trajectory, driven by the diversity of historical contexts through which it passed, but always guided by the ability to assume a central role in the development process of the Brazilian electricity sector.
