Brazil's lower house has removed a proposed LPG assistance program from its urgent voting schedule, submitting it to further review and revisions.
The program announced in August is still under deliberation, but officials now expect further revisions before it moves forward and launches on 1 January.
The bill may add new controls to avoid fraud, the mines and energy ministry's petroleum, natural gas and biofuels secretary Pietro Mendes said last week during a debate in the lower house about LPG.
Congressman Hugo Leal, the bill's overseer, told Argus that he will propose creating LPG cylinders smaller than the typical household 13kg models to ease access for low-income families.
Low-income families spend 70pc of their resources on housing and groceries, according to Carlos Ragazzo, a researcher at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. That suggests that the current government financial support has likely been used for monthly expenses rather than substituting firewood usage for cooking with LPG.
Consumption of firewood for cooking fell from 2005-2015 (see chart), thanks to improved economic conditions throughout the country, according to energy research firm EPE. But the share of households that use firewood for cooking has hovered around 25pc since 2015, even after the launch of program to promote LPG cooking use in 2021 to help those families during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Leal met with lower house leader Arthur Lira on 5 November to discuss the program's proposals and voting agenda, but no details have emerged since.
Almost 1mn Brazilian households cook with biomass only. That represents 1.1pc of the 12.7mn households that use biomass for any energy need. Additionally, 56pc of the biomass-only households are low-income families.
A 13kg LPG cylinder in Brazil costs R106.63 ($18.49), on average. That represents 7pc of Brazil's minimum wage. Low-income families usually receive only half of the minimum wage, on average.
