The National Electricity Administration (ANDE) can terminate the Operating Agreement (OA) with Itaipú Binacional, according to a technical analysis by retired former employee Julio César Benítez Sosa. With the hydroelectric plant's debt fully amortized, the real cost of production drops sharply, making the combined purchase mechanism unnecessary.
Between 2009 and 2021, Itaipú allocated US$3.291 billion annually to amortize the liability, of which US$2 billion went exclusively to debt repayment. Without this component, the total generation cost of Guaranteed Energy and surpluses fell to US$1.291 billion. The official power and energy tariffs were set at US$22.60/kW-month and US$43.80/MWh, respectively, until 2023.
The problem, Benítez Sosa explains, was that demand from the National Interconnected System (SIN-PY) was minimal, making the official tariff burdensome for ANDE. To work around the situation, the Operating Agreement allowed the state-owned company to contract about 70% of its real demand at the official cost and supplement the remaining 30% with cheap surplus energy, at approximately US$5.69/MWh. This mix generated a weighted tariff between US$24 and US$29 per MWh, except in 2016, when ANDE paid US$32/MWh due to Itaipú's record generation.
With the debt cleared, the real power tariff falls to about US$8.90/kW-month and the energy tariff to approximately US$17.20/MWh. Considering the need to finance the 14-year Technological Update (TU), the analyst calculates an ideal budget of US$1.456 billion, raising the tariffs to US$10/kW-month and US$19.40/MWh, respectively. This amount already includes the binational's legal commitments, such as royalties, compensations, and socio-environmental funds.
Benítez Sosa concludes that, with a tariff based on real cost, ANDE no longer needs the Operating Agreement. With half of the ideal budget (US$728.1 million) allocated to the Paraguayan margin, the country can contract the 10 50 Hz turbines—equivalent to 100% of Paraguayan energy—and save about US$200 million on purchasing its demand.
However, the former employee criticizes the 2024/2025/2026 triennial tariff agreement signed between the governments of Santiago Peña and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. According to him, the pact harmed ANDE by approximately US$308 million, forcing the state-owned company to buy electricity at an overpriced tariff, the difference from which was allegedly diverted to inflate the social spending budget of Itaipú Right Bank. The analysis rebuts recent statements by former board member Eduardo Viedma, which would minimize the role of the Operating Agreement, dismissing them as the result of technical ignorance.