Everyone against Enel: under pressure from the left and right, Aneel threatens to end the concession

In November 2023, Enel experienced a major image crisis after a storm left thousands of people without electricity for six days in the country’s largest city. The situation generated countless reports and posts on social media and the repercussion led Mayor Ricardo Nunes to defend an extreme measure: the end of the concession.

Time passed, promises were made and senior Enel executives worked hand-to-hand with ministers and President Lula himself to overcome the crisis. Enel talked about investing R$20 billion in Brazil by 2026.

Now, the Italian company responsible for energy distribution in Greater São Paulo has returned to the center of the discussion after rain and gusts of wind left 2.6 million people without power on Friday (11). Something at the moment, right? Not even. Until this Sunday morning, almost one million consumers were still without electricity.

The new agreement has encouraged politicians from different points of the spectrum to talk about the possible expiration of the Enel concession and has even served as a rehearsal for clashes that could take place in the next general elections. After all, 2026 is just around the corner.

Days before the second round against Guilherme Boulos, Mayor Ricardo Nunes spoke of “Enel’s inefficiency”, said that the company is “the enemy of the people of São Paulo” and that he hopes that the city will soon “be able to get rid of this company.”

Defender of privatizations and candidate to heir to Jair Bolsonaro’s electoral estate, governor Tarcísio de Freitas took to social media to defend the end of the Enel concession and also to mock the federal government.

On Instagram, he wrote that “if the Ministry of Mines and Energy and, mainly, Aneel, have respect for the citizens of São Paulo, the expiry process will be opened immediately”.

The Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, responded. “I would like to remind Governor Tarcísio that the current composition of Aneel was appointed with a mandate by the previous government, of which he was a prominent member”, he wrote in appropriate.”

After trying to paste Aneel’s damaged image into the previous government, Silveira became more comfortable criticizing the agency. He said that Aneel “clearly fails to monitor the energy distributor” and accused the agency of lack of commitment to the population.

“The regulatory agency did not make any progress in the process that could lead to the distributor’s obsolescence, which had already been required for one year by the Ministry, which should lead to the investigation of Aneel’s actions with the control bodies”, said the MME in a note.

With politicians from the right and left questioning raising the issue of ending the concession, Aneel stated in a note that it “will initiate a process to recommend the expiry of the concession” if Enel does not present a “satisfactory and immediate solution in providing the service”.