The governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, the mayor of the capital, Ricardo Nunes, and the minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, announced that they will submit to the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) a request for the expiry of the electricity distribution concession contract that Enel holds in the capital of São Paulo and in 23 other municipalities in the metropolitan region. 
In the last week millions of the distributor’s customers were left without electricity for more than five days after trees fell on the wire network, which destroyed cables and poles.
According to Tarcísio, the government carried out an in-depth survey of the repeated failures in service provision, and was already exchanging information with the Ministry of Mines and Energy and Aneel, so that measures can be taken.
“Enel’s situation in São Paulo is unsustainable, it is no longer able to provide services, it has a very serious reputational problem, it has a problem of constantly letting our population down,” said the governor.
For him, there are no other alternatives than the request for forfeiture, which he considers the most serious measure provided for in the concession contract, which even affects the possibility of automatic renewal of the contract.
Mayor Ricardo Nunes said that last week’s events reiterated that the company does not have the structure and commitment to meet the needs, especially when there is an adverse situation due to climate change.
The capital has 5.8 million distributor customers, which corresponds to around 75% of the total concession.
“We are completely united, the federal government, the state government and the government of the municipality of São Paulo, to initiate a rigorous, regulatory process and we hope that Aneel can provide the answer as quickly as possible to the people of São Paulo”, declared minister Alexandre Silveira.
According to the minister, climate urgency is already known and that is why efforts have been made to renew contracts, as was done with EDP in Espírito Santo and NeoEnergia in Pernambuco. “However, Enel lost, including from a reputational point of view, the conditions to continue leading the concession service in São Paulo,” he said.
