The concessionaire Enel, responsible for supplying electricity in the capital of São Paulo and part of the metropolitan region, announced this Thursday (9) the expansion of its staff. 180 workers out of a total of 1,200 who must be integrated within 12 months became part of the teams that provide emergency care and preventive maintenance.
The hires are a “response” to questions and sanctions suffered by the company after the blackouts that occurred in the capital of São Paulo. In November 2023, around 2.1 million people were affected by a lack of electricity, and some only had power restored almost a week later. “This is also a response to customer demand for a better level of service,” said the president of Enel Brasil, Antonio Scala, during the announcement.
Scala said that, with the expected hiring, the service teams should double in a year. Thus, the company intends, according to Scala, to be able to reduce the waiting time for service in the capital of São Paulo by half. Furthermore, Enel has been implementing a plan to improve its weather forecasting capacity and increase preventive actions, such as tree pruning work, the executive said.
In total, Enel presented an investment plan of R$6.2 billion from 2024 to 2026 in the concession area in São Paulo.
Fines and investigations
The concessionaire’s improvement proposals were brought forward after the company was fined R$165.8 million by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) in February this year. The agency considered that the company failed to comply with contractual terms in the blackout that hit the capital of São Paulo in November.
The episodes of interruption of supply to a large number of customers also led Procon in São Paulo to fine the concessionaire. The Ministry of Mines and Energy opened a procedure to investigate the blackouts and the city of São Paulo even requested the termination of the company’s concession contract.
In Ceará, the company also faces questions regarding the services provided. The final report of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry of the State Legislative Assembly (Alece) recommended this Tuesday (8) the termination of the concession contract due to systematic non-compliance with obligations.
“In Ceará we also respect, as in the case of São Paulo, all the quality contractual elements that we have to deliver. And, equally, we have defined an improvement plan for Ceará that passes through the same pillars: contingency, preventive activity and then investments in the shortest possible time to deliver a better level of quality to customers”, replied Scala regarding the requests for contractual cancellation.
Concession areas
Enel also operates the electricity supply in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In the three locations, the company had, by the end of 2023, a total of 8 thousand direct employees and 38 thousand outsourced employees.
Serving a total of 15.5 million customers across the country, Enel made a profit of R$2.6 billion last year.
In São Paulo, the company serves a total of 7.9 million customers, including homes, commercial establishments, industrial units and the public sector. In the state, the dealership’s profit in 2023 was R$1.3 billion.
