Aneel Opens Process to Revoke Enel’s São Paulo Power Distribution Contract

Overview

• Aneel, which voted unanimously Tuesday, opened a caducity case that gives Enel 30 days to submit its defense before the regulator decides whether to recommend termination.
• Regulators cited persistent service failures, including slow emergency response, more outages lasting over 24 hours, and poor contingency plans, after judging a 2024 recovery plan insufficient.
• A contract shutdown would trigger a payout limited to unamortized grid assets, with reports pointing to R$13–14 billion before an offset for more than R$320 million in fines.
• To keep power flowing to more than 8 million customers, options include naming a government-appointed manager to run the utility or tightening regulatory control during a transition to a new operator.
• The ministry withheld early renewals for Enel units in Rio and Ceará over the São Paulo dispute, and officials floated a change of control as a negotiated path that Enel says it is not discussing.