Enel São Paulo Seeks To Halt Concession-Termination Case and Calls for Independent Expert Review

The utility argues the regulator relied on nonbinding storm-restoration metrics, a fight that could redefine how Brazil judges blackout responses after extreme weather.

Overview

Enel São Paulo filed a formal defense asking the federal power regulator Aneel to archive its caducidade case, which is the process that can end a utility’s concession.
The company requested a court-style technical perícia by a multidisciplinary team, offered to pay for it, and proposed that Aneel and Enel jointly appoint the experts.
The review Enel seeks would reassess the December 2025 storm that left 4.21 million addresses without power and compare it with major outages in 2023 and 2024, as well as examine the criteria Aneel used.
Enel says its 1998 concession and current rules set no objective targets for how fast service must be restored after severe storms and argues Aneel applied an 80% in 24 hours restoration yardstick only to Enel SP without a formal rule.
Citing an Alvarez & Marsal report, Enel maintains it meets contract quality indicators DEC and FEC, which track outage duration and frequency, and notes a TCU technical area indicated the firm did not meet grounds for opening caducidade; Aneel opened the case in April and will decide whether to recommend termination to the Mines and Energy Ministry.