After a windstorm hit São Paulo on Wednesday 10, more than 1.2 million properties in the metropolitan area remain without electricity; Enel claims to have mobilized more than 1,500 teams to serve customers
After the storm that hit the city of Sao Paulo Wednesday 10 with gusts of up to 98 km/h, More than 1.2 million consumer units in the capital and the metropolitan region were still without electricity on Thursday afternoon the 11th.. THE Enel Distribution São Paulo declared that the event caused “serious damage to electrical infrastructure” and that it will be necessary to rebuild sections of the network, without planning a delay for the normalization of service.
The dealer’s response to the situation began to be closely monitored by teams from the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) and the Public Services Regulatory Agency of the State of São Paulo (Arsesp)which monitors compliance with the emergency plan and the measures adopted after the storm.
The power outage affected commerce and services, which lost at least 1.54 billion reais in revenue, according to FecomercioSP. Enel said it mobilized more than 1,500 crews and vehicles throughout the day Wednesday to serve customers.
Supply problems are not isolated. Throughout 2025, episodes of intense rain left tens of thousands of properties without power at different times of the year. January, FEBRUARY And Marchmainly in the northern and western areas of the capital and in the municipalities of the metropolitan region. The data presented by Aneel shows that Enel’s average response time to emergency incidents in São Paulo increased by 9.13 hours in 2019 to 12.21 hours in 2024, an increase of approximately three hours.
Recurring failures gave rise to sanctions. In 2024, the Arsesp imposed BRL 165.8 million in fines on Enel for supply problems in Greater São Paulo, a value 4,116% higher than that recorded in 2019.. The concessionaire claims to respect its contractual and regulatory obligations and claims to be making “record investments” to modernize the network.
Despite this, the contract has become the target of political and legal questions. In October 2025, the The Federal Court suspended the administrative procedure for early extension of the concessionfollowing a request from the city of São Paulo.
Since when has Enel supplied energy to São Paulo?
The current concessionaire succeeded AES Electropaulo in 2018, after the company was bought by the Enel group, an Italian multinational in the electricity sector. In June of the same year, Enel acquired 73.38% of Eletropaulo shares for 5.55 billion reais, in an auction held on B3.
At the time, the state government was led by Mario Franca (PSB). The state did not sell its participation in the process because the papers were given as collateral as part of another financial transaction. With the operation, the Eletropaulo brand ceased to exist, giving birth to Enel Distribuição São Paulo.
History
The Enel group was founded in Italy in 1962, initially as a public company. The company went through a privatization process in the 1990s and 2000s and is now publicly traded, with its shares trading on the Milan and New York stock exchanges. The Italian government retains a minority stake, around 23.6%. In Brazil, in addition to São Paulo, Enel operates in energy distribution in Rio de Janeiro and Ceará.
In São Paulo alone, the concessionaire serves 7.5 million consumption units in 24 municipalities in the metropolitan region, being responsible for approximately 70% of the energy distributed in the state. Despite its size, the company has received criticism from residents, mayors, and state and federal governments.
Nine days before the last power outage, a the technical audit of the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) recommended that Aneel evaluate the possibility of federal intervention in Enelhighlighting the non-compliance with seven of the eleven signed Results Plans and the low effectiveness of the sanctions, many of which were stopped by the judicialization of fines.
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