“I can’t take it anymore”

The mayor of Sao Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), indicated this Monday 15 that he will have a meeting with the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveiraon Tuesday the 16th, to discuss the contract with Enelresponsible for the electricity supply of the capital and the metropolitan region. He stressed again that the concession of electricity supply service is a federal responsibility.

“I have just received the message that a meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, at 2:30 p.m., at the Government Palace, with the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, who has the power to award the contract with Enel,” said the mayor, in an interview with the Roda Viva program, on TV Cultura. “We will discuss, present once again to the minister all the questions of suffering of the population,” he declared.

Last Wednesday 10, thousands of people in the capital and the metropolitan region found themselves without electricity after a gale, with winds reaching almost 100 km/h. Around 2.2 million properties were left without electricity and, for some, without water due to lack of energy for pumping.

The storm, the effect of an extratropical cyclone that formed in the south of the country, also caused the cancellation of flights and the fall of hundreds of trees in the city. According to firefighters, there have been more than 1,400 calls for this type of incident in Greater SP.

Residents reported inconveniences and losses, such as loss of food stocks and difficulty using other services, such as telephone and internet, due to the dealer’s delay in restoring service.

This Monday, in its last update, around 11 p.m., Enel’s report indicates that 40,450 properties in the city of São Paulo are still without electricity. By adding the entire concession area where the distributor operates in the Grand SP, the number of affected customers rises to 66,242.

Enel reported on Monday that properties affected by the power outage following the storm have now returned to normal. “At this time, teams are working to address cases recorded in the days following the weather event,” the company said.

Last Friday, 12, when the total number of affected customers was still around 700,000, the São Paulo court ordered Enel to restore service to all consumers within 12 hours, subject to the payment of fines of R$200,000 per hour of delay.

Nunes (MDB) had already criticized Enel’s action last Friday, demanding federal intervention by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) at the concessionaire, the same defense presented the day before by Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans). Nunes also stressed that Enel’s mobilization after the power outage was insufficient. The dealership says it has mobilized more than 1,500 teams to carry out street repairs and says it has invested to improve service.

On the occasion, the Minister of Mines and Energy highlighted the “political dispute” in the criticisms of Nunes and Tarcísio and declared that he was working to resolve the crisis. However, he signaled no intention of federal intervention.

Nunes said he would be accompanied to Tuesday’s meeting by Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans); by Municipal Attorney General Luciana Sant’Ana Nardi; by the Secretary of Justice, André Lemos Jorge; and by the State Attorney General, Inês dos Santos Coimbra. “We don’t understand how this company still holds the energy concession because of the many problems it has caused people.”

The mayor of São Paulo also recalled three power outages of recent magnitude, in November 2023 and January and October 2024, which left hundreds of thousands of customers in the dark in the city after the passage of strong storms.

“This is something that we can no longer tolerate. The population is suffering a lot and the federal government must act, because it is the federal government that has this responsibility.”

In 2024, Mayor Ricardo Nunes had already met Silveira, in Brasilia. At the time, there was talk of sending a decree to the Chamber of Deputies improving electricity concession contracts.

At the time, he also presented to the then President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, a proposal to amend the law on concessions so that municipalities would have more autonomy in the choice and control of electricity concessionaires.