The Attorney General’s Office (AGU) filed a public civil action this Friday against the energy distributor Enel São Paulo due to the blackout that occurred in October, demanding compensation from affected consumers that could total more than R$1 billion.
In the action presented to the Federal Court of São Paulo, AGU maintains that there was an excessive delay on the part of the concessionaire in reestablishing services to consumers in the metropolitan region of São Paulo after a strong storm last month, which interrupted the supply of energy to 3.1 million customers , with the work for complete restoration taking five days.
The federal government body argues that more severe weather events at this time of year are “recurrent, probable and predictable”, so the energy distributor would have an obligation to prepare to face them.
In a statement, Enel stated that it reinforces its commitment to its customers and reiterated that it has made “strong investments” to improve the services provided, having increased the level of resources allocated annually to the São Paulo distributor since it entered the concession in 2018.
The electric company said that the windstorm on October 11, with gusts of up to 107.6 km/h, was the strongest recorded in the São Paulo metropolitan region in the last 30 years, which led to damage to the electrical network, which had to be entirely rebuilt in some sections.
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Enel also stated that the São Paulo distributor has been improving its service quality indicators, and that the investments made in the last five years are greater than the net profit recorded in the period. From 2024 to 2026, contributions of 6.2 billion reais are estimated in the concession.
In the action, AGU demands compensation of 260 million reais for collective moral damages, an amount equivalent to 20% of the net profit recorded by the São Paulo distributor in 2023, “as a way of discouraging the conduct of essential public service concessionaires who choose to reduce investments to increase their profits at the expense of service users”.
The AGU also requested the payment of individual compensation to all consumer units that remained without power for more than 24 hours. In this case, the requested amount is at least 500 reais per day per unit, to be paid through a discount on electricity bills.
“Based on information provided by the concessionaire and the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), it is estimated that the total cost of individual compensation is at least 757 million reais,” said the agency, in a statement, pointing out that, added to the collective compensation, the total amount to be paid by Enel could exceed 1 billion reais.
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Extreme weather events, such as strong storms and floods, have made it difficult for energy distributors to operate in different parts of the country in recent years.
In November 2023, rains with winds above 100 km/h had already left millions of consumers in the State of São Paulo without electricity, mainly in the metropolitan region served by Enel, in an event that outraged the population and authorities and led to the imposition of millionaire fines .
Last month, the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) issued a subpoena to the energy distributor Enel São Paulo, starting a process that could lead to the expiration of the concession and also make it difficult to renew the contract from 2028 onwards.
