Three of the five directors of the Electric Energy Trading Chamber (CCEE) stepped down on Wednesday in protest of the way the agency is being managed. 

They told interlocutors that they were not happy with the CCEE’s new role, more subordinated to the government than to the private sector and, supposedly, less independent. 

The resignation came after the approval of an R$11.2 billion loan from a group of banks for covering a financial shortfall among distributors and avoiding explosive power rate increases this year. However, the protest does not concern the financial transaction. It was a "political" act of the three directors. Government economic advisers were surprised by their resignation, but Valor has learned that there will be no delay in releasing funds to distributors and the loan will be signed by the end of this week. 

"The funding will arrive anyway. We are very comfortable with the structure of the transaction, as well as with the banks and Aneel [Brazil’s electricity regulator]," a government official said.