São Paulo mayor to step up Enel complaints after 60-hour blackout

São Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes vowed Thursday to file new complaints against Enel, the Italian multinational in charge of power distribution in São Paulo state, after a new blackout in the central part of Brazil’s largest city lasted more than 60 hours.

“City Hall is outraged by Enel’s lack of respect for the people of São Paulo”, Mr. Nunes said on social media.

Residents and shopkeepers in downtown São Paulo faced a third consecutive day of power cuts on Wednesday. Spoiled food in refrigerators was thrown out. Some business owners rented emergency generators. Traffic lights stopped working. Some companies sent their employees home early because of the blackout.

Enel’s maintenance director, Darcio Dias, told Brazil’s main news cast that maintenance on underground cables such as the ones in downtown São Paulo take longer to perform, and that the company is working to reduce the time it takes to restore power.

Enel said in a statement that power had been restored to 97 percent of customers in central São Paulo by Wednesday afternoon, and that it was offering about 1,000 generators to the remaining homes and businesses. 

The blackout also affected the military court, a college, and three hospitals.

Enel won a public tender in 2018 to take over Eletropaulo, a now-defunct state-owned electricity company. At the time, Eletropaulo was already under the control of a private company, the U.S.-based AES, which sold its stake. 

Because Enel’s contract is under federal jurisdiction, the mayor’s options are limited.

Mr. Nunes is up for re-election in October. He has already been heavily criticized on social media for his lenient approach to the electricity problem. In November, during a massive blackout that left millions without power, he attended the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the city’s Interlagos race circuit.

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