After meeting with the Governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), and Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB), the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira (PSD), declared this Tuesday (16/12) that he would request the expiration of the contract with Enel, the concessionaire responsible for energy distribution in the metropolitan region.
“We decided to urge ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) to start the expiration process. We are completely united, the federal government, the state government and the government of the municipality of São Paulo, to be able to begin a rigorous and regulatory process. We hope that ANEEL can respond as quickly as possible to the people of São Paulo, implementing and starting the expiration process, which will certainly lead to an improvement in the quality of service,” Silveira said after the agenda.
With the contract expiring in 2028, the company has been the target of successive criticism from Tarcísio and Nunes due to problems restoring electricity to thousands of properties affected by the strong wind gusts that hit the region last week.
The minister did not talk about dates. His speech was delivered alongside Tarcísio and Nunes and there was no room for questions.
“Since the beginning of the Lula government, our determination has been to work, regardless of parties or political issues, united and around improving the quality of life of the Brazilian people,” Silveira said.
Chaos in the metropolis
After the strong gusts of wind that hit the capital last Wednesday (12/10), around 2.2 million homes were left without electricity. Seven days later, more than 28,000 homes remain without electricity.
Last Friday (12/12), the mayor and governor even contacted President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) during an event to address the subject, in Osasco (SP). At the time, the PT deputy said he would ask Silveira to look into the matter.
“I said that people are suffering and that I was sure that, like me and Tarcísio, he also felt the pain of these people,” Nunes said of the conversation with Lula.
A few days before the meeting with the PT member, Tarcísio and Nunes said they would ask the federal government to intervene in the company.
In a statement released Tuesday, the city of São Paulo said Enel had failed to comply with an agreement signed with the municipal administration in which it committed to pruning around 282,000 trees in the city. According to the town hall, only 11% of this total was executed by the company until Monday (15/12).
“The result is mediocre and proves the lack of commitment of the concessionaire and the terrible service provided to the population of São Paulo. The City Hall, in turn, since the beginning of the year, has carried out with its teams 162 thousand tree prunings and 13 thousand tree removals. In addition, the current management has increased the number of tree management teams in 2025 from 122 to 162, an increase by 32%,” the note said.
Relationship with the minister
The minister’s relations with São Paulo representatives have been fragile since Silveira hinted that he could renew Enel’s concession, which expires in 2028.
Last Wednesday (11/12), in a video published on social networks, Nunes relaunched the conflict with Silveira over the renewal with Enel.
More than a month ago, Silveira said the contract with the distributor could be maintained despite the “crying” of Nunes and the governor. Nunes responded to the head of Mines and Energy at the time, insinuating that Silveira had a “hidden interest” in advancing the renewal of the contract with Enel.
“Mr. Minister, it is the population that cries. While you laugh, the population cries, the population suffers. It is unacceptable that for years this company, here in the city of São Paulo and in the 23 other municipalities, has caused millions of people to suffer so much,” retorted the municipal director. “What is questionable is the behavior of a minister who would have the obligation to defend the population and who is concerned with defending an early renewal of a contract which will expire in 2028,” Nunes reiterated last week.
Renewal of contract with Enel
Previously, government minister Lula declared that there was no politicization in the discussions on the renewal of the contract and that the federal government could not generate “doubt” for the private sector.
If the mayor wants to cry, if the governor of São Paulo wants to cry, there is no problem. If it’s true, we’ll do it again. Silveira emphasized this during the event.
The concessionaire is responsible for providing energy to approximately 8 million people in the capital of São Paulo and 23 other municipalities in the Greater SP.
“The Governor of São Paulo and the Mayor of São Paulo are ‘bald’ when they know the importance of the renewal. All the elements that Governor Tarcísio repeatedly mentions as important to add to the quality of service of the energy supplier of the State of São Paulo are included in the new contract,” the minister said.
Gleisi Hoffmann x Tarcisio de Freitas
In addition to Nunes and Silveira, the clash between the municipal, state and federal governments also led the Minister of Institutional Relations, Gleisi Hoffmann, to criticize, on Friday (12/12), the governor of São Paulo for the power outage. She said Tarcísio wanted to “blame the Enel crisis on the federal government.”
Tarcísio had declared the day before that São Paulo could not “be taken hostage by Enel” and that jurisdiction over the concession contract “is exclusive to the federal government”.
Gleisi said Tarcísio and “his boss Bolsonaro” have always been in favor of privatizing essential services, like energy and sanitation. For Lula’s minister, it would be of no use to speak now of federal intervention.
“Bolsonaro privatized Eletrobras, taking away from the Union the only company capable of taking charge of energy distribution in São Paulo,” he added.
About The Author
