Procon-SP reported this week that it notified Enel about the opening of yet another inspection procedure – which is the first step towards adopting new sanctions against the company – for “repeated failures in the supply of electricity” to consumers in the capital of São Paulo and the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo.
The consumer protection agency assesses that, in addition to the prolonged lack of electricity being serious at any time, the proximity of the end-of-year festivities may represent an even greater loss for consumers, since among traditional purchases, meat and other perishables tend to be purchased in advance and in larger quantities than usual.
The entity also highlights that another factor that makes the issue more relevant is the fact that blackouts in the region are becoming recurrent, without effective measures for response, resumption of services and, above all, prevention, being adopted by Enel.
“For a year now, the company has been saying that the causes of the blackouts are weather events extremes; but they continue to happen and it is unacceptable that “strong winds” continue to be used as an argument to justify the number of customers impacted and the delay in restoring services”, says Luiz Orsatti Filho, executive director of Procon-SP.
“How long will storms remain a surprise for Enel? And how much longer will the company take to present effective emergency response measures and climate change resilience plans?” he added.
Among the information requested in the new inspection procedure opened by Procon-SP, is the demonstration of the investments that have been announced by the company.
Since November 2023, Enel has been fined three times in São Paulo for more than R$10 million each time, and for the same reason. In addition, there are other ongoing investigations that may result in new sanctions.
Heavy rains at Christmas
This Wednesday (25), Christmas in São Paulo was marked by heavy rains, with at least 19 flooding points recorded, 14 of which were imable, according to information from the City Hall's Climate Emergency Management Center.
According to Enel, more than 46 properties were left without electricity in the São Paulo concession area, 33.788 of which were in the capital alone. Of the 24 metropolitan municipalities, 17 reported problems with the electricity supply.
Until the end of the afternoon this Thursday (26), teams from Civil Defense and City Hall were still carrying out a task force to remove trees that fell on the electrical wires.
What does ENEL say?
In a statement, Enel highlighted that it has implemented a plan to reduce impacts on customers in the event of climate contingencies.
The company's action plan includes reinforcing field teams in accordance with the weather forecast, hiring more of its own electricians, increasing the availability of its generator fleet, expanding the capacity of its service channels, among other measures.
The distributor also claimed that it intensified preventive maintenance throughout the year and doubled the number of prunings of branches close to the power grid, suring the 600 mark.
“Due to these measures already implemented, after the rains recorded last Friday (20), with wind gusts above 80 km/h, the company managed to restore power to 86% of the more than 660 thousand affected customers within 24 hours. By early Sunday afternoon (22), supply was resumed for almost all other impacted customers”, the company highlighted.
In addition, Enel said it has improved its plan for action in the event of contingencies. For the next three years, the company said it will increase the resources allocated to its concession area in São Paulo, which will reach R$10,4 billion by 2027.
“These investments focus mainly on strengthening, resilience, digitalization and expansion of the distribution network, with solutions that help speed up the restoration of energy in the event of an interruption, especially in light of worsening climate change,” the distributor highlighted.
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