Power outage affects over 2 million households in São Paulo state

Brasil de Fato

On Monday morning (14), Enel, the electricity distribution company in São Paulo, released a report on the blackout in the capital’s metropolitan region. Around 530,000 clients are still without electricity, 354,000 of them in the city of São Paulo. Other municipalities affected are Cotia, with 36,900 homes without power; Taboão da Serra, with 32,700; and São Bernardo do Campo, with 28,100 homes without service.

The outage to the population of São Paulo began on Friday (11), when a 30-minute storm hit the state. At the time, around 2.1 million homes were left without power.

In a statement released on Saturday (12), Brazil’s Electricity Agency (Aneel, in Portuguese) ordered Enel to provide details on what happened and raised the possibility of recommending the end of the company’s concession.

On Sunday (13), after a meeting with representatives of Enel, the federal agency and the São Paulo State Public Services Regulatory Agency (Arsesp, in Portuguese), Aneel classified the company’s performance in restoring the power supply in the metropolitan region as “below expectations.”

The agency pointed to Enel’s delay in reaching 2,500 employees working in the neighborhoods affected by the power outage to make the necessary repairs. The company itself informed the number in its contingency plan. Until Sunday, 1,700 employees were working in the affected areas.

Aneel also compared Enel’s current lack of a satisfactory response to that seen in November 2023. “Compared to last year’s event, the resumption is not as efficient as we had hoped,” said Aneel’s director-general, Sandoval Feitosa Neto.

The meeting between the regulatory agencies and Enel took place amid an exchange of criticism between Ricardo Nunes (Brazilian Democratic Movement), mayor of São Paulo, who is running for re-election, and Alexandre Silveira (Social Democratic Party), the Brazilian Minister of Mines and Energy. On Saturday, Nunes went so far as to criticize the federal government, saying there was “neglect” regarding São Paulo’s population. After receiving heavy criticism for his role in curbing the crisis, Nunes posted on his X/Twitter profile on Sunday that Silveira had talked about renewing Enel’s contracts in Brazil with the company’s director in Italy.

In response, on the same social media platform, Silveira accused Nunes of seeking to inherit Pablo Marçal’s votes [third in the first round of elections for São Paulo City Hall] with accusations against the federal government. The minister said he had taken part in a discussion forum in Italy “with several Brazilian and Italian businessmen and authorities” and that “there was no discussion about renewing Enel’s concession.” “This is not on the table, because the contract, which the mayor’s allies signed, runs until 2028.”

It’s not the first time  

Last November, São Paulo residents were left without electricity for nearly a week after a storm. This incident led the Brazil’s Electricity Agency (Aneel, in Portuguese) to fine the utility company over BRL 165 million (approximately $29 million).  

The Agency’s decision acknowledged that the severe weather events on November 3, 2024, justified the initial power outages. However, it emphasized that these events did not absolve the distributor of its responsibility to restore service quickly and effectively.  

During this period, São Paulo’s mayor, Ricardo Nunes, faced heavy criticism for attending the Formula 1 race while parts of the city remained in darkness.