Brazilian daylight savings time ends on February 26

The government expects to have economized between R$75 million and R$100 million by reducing electricity consumption 4.5% to 5% during the  daylight savings time period (“horário de verão”) this year in the regions it was in effect: South, Southeast, Central-West and the state of Bahia. According to Ildo Grüdtner, the secretary of Electricity at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, daylight savings in Brazil ensures a higher level of security and quality in the electricity consumers get. He adds that with reduced demand it is not necessary to fire up expensive and polluting thermoelectric power plants.

Grüdtner says that opinion polls show that daylight savings time is popular in Brazil.”It is a win-win, both for consumers and the government. And there are no plans to eliminate it for the time being,” he declared.

Daylight savings time began, as usual, in mid October, on the 16th. It usually ends on the third Sunday in February (which would have been the 19th), but that date fell on carnival weekend and so it will last an extra week this year, ending Sunday, February 26.

For very organized people who have problems with the sudden shift of the clock back an hour, Dr. Ricardo Campos, head of neurology at the Anchieta Hospital here in Brasilia, suggests sleeping an extra ten minutes every day this week to make the adjustment smoother. “Instead of waiting until February 26, it is a good idea to get to sleep ten minutes earlier each day this week until you are sleeping an hour earlier. As there will be an alteration in metabolism with the time change, preparing for it gradually will be less of a shock to the body,” he says.