Daylight saving time starts Sunday in three Brazil regions

Daylight saving time starts at midnight Sunday (Oct. 15) and clocks must be changed back one hour. The special time is to be in effect until February 18 2018.

This year, daylight saving time is adopted for the South, the Southeast, and the Central-West. In the North and the Northeast no such change will take place.

This may be the last time daylight saving time is adopted in Brazil, as authorities in the electric energy sector have found changes in the energy consumption habits among Brazilians. According to the National Electric System Operator (ONS), temperature has taken the role of sunlight in exerting major influence on energy consumption, which now reaches its peak between 2 and 3 pm, and no longer from 5 to 8 pm.

In the view of Roberto Brandão, coordinator for regulation from the Electricity Study Group at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the change in energy consumption habits is also related to the use of air-conditioners, which are usually turned on at the hottest hours of the day, and also to the substitution of incandescent light bulbs with more economical ones, which cuts energy costs.

Reconsidering the issue

In August, a ONS monitoring committee, in cooperation with the Ministry of Mines and Energy, concluded that this change in habits “brings results that add up to very little for the Brazilian consumer of electric energy, both regarding saving energy and the reduction in the system’s maximum demand.”

Despite the statement, the government decided to maintain daylight saving time this year, but the measure will be reconsidered for the 2017-2018 period.

*Alana Gandra, from Rio de Janeiro, contributed to this article.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira