RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA, April 10 (Reuters) - Brazil is preparing a power sector reform that will increase the number of low-income households exempt from paying energy bills to 60 million, Energy and Mines Minister Alexandre Silveira said on Thursday.

At an event in Rio de Janeiro, Silveira said some 50 million households currently have some discount in their energy bills under the program. It was not immediately clear how many of those households were fully exempted.

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Low-income households in Brazil can request their energy bill to be partially or fully subsided under a government program, with their cost added to the bills of the remaining power consumers.

The energy and mines ministry's proposed reform would come as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government reached earlier this year its lowest popularity level among his three terms in office amid a surge in consumer prices.

After Silveira's remarks, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told reporters in Brasilia that no study about increasing energy bill subsidies for the poorest has reached his ministry or the office of Lula's chief of staff.

Silveira has said the reform - details of which remain scarce - will aim to reduce other subsidies, particularly those granted to large companies that generate their own power, which currently drive up electricity costs for Brazilian consumers.

The Brazil power regulator estimates total subsidies for the sector to reach near 41 billion reais ($7 billion) this year, with 6.7 billion reais coming from the program on low-income households.

The reform is expected to be sent to Congress in the year's first half, Silveira added.

($1 = 5.8926 reais)

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brazil-working-power-reform-raise-subsidies-poorest-minister-says-2025-04-10/