In an interview with Jovem Pan, the Secretary of the Environment defended the privatization of Sabesp, claiming that the public company would bring consumers a real increase of 15%
The publication of the new tariff value tables by the Public Services Regulatory Agency of the State of São Paulo generated repercussions, especially from opponents, who recalled that governor Tarcísio de Freitas said, in an election campaign in 2022, that, after privatization, there would be no increase in the tariff of the former state-owned company.
The Secretary of Environment, Infrastructure and Logistics of São Paulo, Natália Resende, stated in an interview with Young PanHowever, the adjustment of 6.11% is based on inflation, taking into account a period of 16 months, therefore since July 2024 when the company was privatized.
With the new value, the residential tariff goes from 6 reais and one cent to 6 reais and 40 cents, an increase of 39 cents on the São Paulo consumer’s water bill.
Resende said that, if Sabesp remained completely under the state umbrella, the increase would be 15%. He states that the adjustment only occurred due to investments. “There were 151 billion reais more invested in 2025, without a real increase in the tariff. Due to the regulatory model and the profit fund used by the State. The model allows me today to only add the adjustment to the tariff after Sabesp has already made the investment”, stated Natália Resende.
Under the contract, the State of São Paulo still holds 18% of Sabesp’s shares and is therefore able to use the fund’s profits that were mentioned by the secretary. According to data from the secretariat, the company has already invested R$15 billion to expand sanitation.
The secretary says that the adjustment is not related to the drop in reservoir levels and that the current scenario is very different from the water crisis of 2014 and 2015.
She ruled out the risk of rationing at this time: “Today what we see is a curve very close to the contingency that we had already foreseen. Today we are in band three, in the 10-hour night demand management period. It is very far from the so-called rotation, in band seven”, said the secretary.
The plan established by the state government remains at level 3, on a scale where level 7 already reaches rationing. Natalia Resende highlighted that one of the measures adopted was the anticipation of works, such as the transposition to Alto Tietê. The mechanism will integrate the Itapanhaú river basin, in Serra do Mar, up to the Alto Tietê System. According to state management, this will allow for greater water security, with a 17% increase in water in the reservoir, reaching 22 million people.
